Javier Camarena: Contrabandista
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Gioachino Rossini, Manuel García, Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli
Genre:
Vocal
Magazine Review Date: 11/2018
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 71
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 483 3958DH
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
El gitano por amor, Movement: Cara gitana del alma mia |
Manuel García, Composer
Gianluca Capuano, Conductor Javier Camarena, Tenor Les Musiciens du Prince-Monanco Manuel García, Composer |
El poeta calculista, Movement: Yo que soy contrabandista |
Manuel García, Composer
Gianluca Capuano, Conductor Javier Camarena, Tenor Les Musiciens du Prince-Monanco Manuel García, Composer |
(La) Cenerentola, or La bontà in trionfo, 'Cinderella', Movement: Si, ritrovarla io giuro |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Gianluca Capuano, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer Javier Camarena, Tenor Les Musiciens du Prince-Monanco |
La Mort du Tasse, Movement: Vous dont l’image toujours chère |
Manuel García, Composer
Gianluca Capuano, Conductor Javier Camarena, Tenor Les Musiciens du Prince-Monanco Manuel García, Composer |
Giulietta e Romeo, Movement: Là dai regni dell’ombre, e di morte |
Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli, Composer
Gianluca Capuano, Conductor Javier Camarena, Tenor Les Musiciens du Prince-Monanco Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli, Composer |
Armida, Movement: Amor, possente nome!...Vacilla a quegli accenti! |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Cecilia Bartoli, Mezzo soprano Gianluca Capuano, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer Javier Camarena, Tenor Les Musiciens du Prince-Monanco |
Florestan ou Le Conseil des dix, Movement: Ô ciel ! de ma juste furie comment réprimer le transport? |
Manuel García, Composer
Gianluca Capuano, Conductor Javier Camarena, Tenor Les Musiciens du Prince-Monanco Manuel García, Composer |
(Il) Barbiere di Siviglia, '(The) Barber of Seville', Movement: Cessa di più resistere |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Gianluca Capuano, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer Javier Camarena, Tenor Les Musiciens du Prince-Monanco |
El poeta calculista, Movement: Formaré mi plan con cuidado |
Manuel García, Composer
Gianluca Capuano, Conductor Javier Camarena, Tenor Les Musiciens du Prince-Monanco Manuel García, Composer |
Ricciardo e Zoraide, Movement: S'ella mi è ognor fedele |
Gioachino Rossini, Composer
Gianluca Capuano, Conductor Gioachino Rossini, Composer Javier Camarena, Tenor Les Musiciens du Prince-Monanco |
Author: Mark Pullinger
The album certainly shares the traits of Cecilia Bartoli’s discography. Served up in a beautifully presented hardback book, it focuses on the life and music of the Spanish tenor Manuel García, who lived an eventful life. Markus Wyler’s entertaining notes of the rags-to-riches cobbler’s son are packed with incident, including his escapades in Mexico. García created roles such as Almaviva in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. He was a noted composer of light operas and was also the father of Maria Malibran – subject of Bartoli scholarship on a previous disc – and Pauline Viardot.
Camarena’s disc is a delicious juxtaposition of García’s Rossini roles, Capulet’s aria from Niccolò Zingarelli’s Romeo e Giulietta and a selection of García’s own works, some in French, some in Spanish, such as ‘Yo que soy contrabandista’ from El poeta calculista which gives the disc its title – an aria that became extremely popular when both of García’s daughters used to interpolate it into the singing lesson scene of Barbiere! Possessor of a fiery temperament, García seems to have had a wide vocal range, occasionally singing the title-role in Don Giovanni, the Count in Figaro and, in Così fan tutte, alternating between Ferrando and Guglielmo as required. The booklet note writer, however, seems to think we get to hear Don Giovanni’s serenade on the disc. We don’t.
García was criticised for over-ornamentation – something that could never be levelled at Camarena, who is a model of good taste, apart from the occasional aspirate. The amiable Mexican throws himself into this repertoire with abandon, greedily lapping up the florid coloratura excesses with ease. He has a wonderfully flexible voice without any hint of nasality or the slightly metallic top of someone like Juan Diego Flórez, the only other tenor who could currently tackle this sort of stuff with such easy elegance.
From Barbiere, Camarena sings a terrific ‘Cessa di più resistere’ – familiar from its guise as the showstopping finale to La Cenerentola – which is jaw-dropping in its virtuosity. Don Ramiro’s ‘Sì, ritrovarla io giuro’ dazzles. García was also a noted Otello, often performing opposite his daughter, Maria, as Desdemona, so it’s a shame there is no memento here (Bartoli has essayed Desdemona wonderfully). Instead, the Italian mezzo joins Camarena in a lengthy duet from Armida, voices entwined seamlessly.
The numbers from García’s own works – three of them recorded for the first time – are carried off with a good deal of swagger, Camarena enthusiastically supported by Les Musiciens du Prince under Gianluca Capuano. An often thrilling disc, worthy of the Bartoli imprimatur.
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