Il nuovo CD di ROBERTO ALAGNA “Ma vie est un'Opéra”: la vita è un misterioso gioco di specchi guidato dal destino (following excerpts of french and english translation)

By  © Natalia Dantas-(Following excerpts of French and English translation)-

The new CD by Roberto Alagna, "Ma vie est un Opéra", came out for the Deutsche Grammophon – Universal Music France – SCP the November 17, 2014. Beyond all that was written about it for decriptarne the choice of contentHowever, unusual and non-commercial use and taste great, which covers, according to the interpreter itself, the highlights of his personal life reflected in notes worship of’Opera (hence the title of the CD itself), a chill goes through the entire new record production of Sicilian-French artist. A common thread, which appears deliberately not always focused, in a conscious, cryptic random order pieces of a puzzle whose ulterior motives deliberately concealed, runs through each track, remain aspects accompanying a posteriori, but still looking toward the future, personal and artistic path that seems predestined. The protagonist himself seems to recognize him here as such, having overtaken and overcoming with the mighty and mysterious power of music its vicissitudes of life through the priceless gift that was made by the creator, but that has been able to pursue with untiring and admirable perseverance and willingness to touch the perfection. Even today, having passed the threshold of fifty years, Roberto Alagna It follows that destiny, from which it can and should expect more evidence and subsequent successes: its seems a Youth staff and voice unstoppable.

The Roberto today was the beginning Robertino, that little boy shy and frail, aware of their limitations, but that slowly took self-awareness and, according to him, identified with Cyrano, proposing to imitate him and being able to find equal desire for excellence in all things that were not their own "flaws": was the key to everything, its success and its career now thirty-year; but it is also the key to read between the lines of his life and career. What comes out from listening to this registration First, the desire to tell their stories through the work; a mysterious mirror game between the protagonist and the characters he plays, his personal travails and those of his heroes, not always positive, but all very human features and lived intensely. The intensity of participation in this Alagna singing is very strong: there's word that it is not pronounced in music along with all its hidden meanings and is not expressed with perfect vocal mastery. The writer considers himself as the voice of Roberto Alagna both definable which "voice from the theater"that by nature is structured to be played live, where you reveal every facet and will prove to be totally free of distortions…and then you just feel "loaned" to the recordings, all the more so as they are sosfisticate. Hence the desire to maintain as much as possible complements truthfulness of each track. Well as the winds that precede the issuance were kept in adjustment, curated by Frédérico Alagnabrother of tenor, expert musician, as well as excellent Visual Arts artist; and it is clear that this has been done in full respect of the realism of the performance.

All under the baton of Yvan Cassarwhich of his sometimes gets really "flourish" short orchestral moments that is listening and that supports and accompanies the tenor, soprano attractively into three tracks from side Aleksandra Kurzak, with the professionalism and participation of the Maestro and his friend, along the entire musical production in question, leading the excellent London Orchestra.

The setting and issuing of Roberto Alagna in this new CD they are the best he can get today from his vocal means. His voice has changed over the years, it has matured, the power has not diminished, but the sound has "smoothed out", opened up and gained in expression, as if every day lived were contained in what is heard: the experience of life has refined and varied the artistic experience like a chisel. The expression, therefore, is the host, but phrasing and pronunciation are absolutely worth noting. And here arises a hypothetical dualism which, in the opinion of the writer should not be considered a defect, but a value: it is as if they existed two vocalities for Alagna, one when she sings in Italian and the other when she sings IN FRENCH.

On the CD in question, "Woman I never saw" from Manon Lescaut by Puccinii is a single breath of feeling and full, mature expressive vocality. The voice smiles, dreams, fears, desires, hopes: full splendor in every instant, it is radiant and pulsating. The Italian diction is perfect, the phrasing as well…In truth diction and phrasing in both languages they are perfect…However, when Alagna sings IN FRENCH it's like it has something extra.

With the mixed and sometimes nasal sounds of the vowels in the French language, "his" French, which rise in mask and use it integrally and with the inflections that the Italian language, "his" Italian, does not possess, the tenor touches the top of the quality of the emission and consequently of the expression. His voice seems created for sing in French, its resonators to be used for the typical sounds of that language. Miraculously, even the voice softens, shapes itself, takes on colors and nuances that it can find in no other language, mediating with impressive naturalness between the jumbled openings and phonetic closures that both native languages present.

It's not meant to be a comparison between the two hypothetical vocalities of Alagna, but alone a consideration in the light of what you hear.

Massenet, then, it seems his tutelary deity and especially the prayer that the tenor interprets in the recording “Unable to repress…So goodbye…” from Herodias it is felt and transmitted in all its fullness of emotion and feeling. Music must be "in the heart"as he himself says…and proves it, revealing an inner world of almost unfathomable depth.

The technical mastery in the most arduous vocal evolutions, then, it is absolute: even when singing in German, the colors and the passage of register to reach the falsetto of Magic tone by Karl GoldmarkDomenico Die Konigin Von Saba, I am the most refined never heard about it. The much discussed “falsetto” is produced through a complex mechanism muscle and cartilage of the phonatory apparatus, determining the vibration of only the edge of the vocal cords. Because of this, the vocal timbre results low in harmonics, weaker in intensity than full-voiced singing and produces a sense of "fixity" of the sound. It's not easy sing correctly in falsetto, also because the voice can be of reduced projection and subject to a possible breathlessness, even if singing with this technique requires less muscular effort. It is produced an apparently “false” vocal timbre, hence the term which defines it, with respect to what is the “full voice”.

Alagna's falsetto is Perfect and also has many harmonics; appears to be for this characteristic, therefore, a so-called falsetto "Reinforced", obtained with the intentional lowering of the larynx and the creation of a greater resonance space. The extension also allows it, but the mastery of the means is in cases like this "conditio sine qua non". Not a falsetto in a fixed voice, stiff and in contrast with the rest of the piece, therefore, but a falsetto to which the interpreter arrives in the finale with a masterful technical awareness: there are no jumps, there is no interruption of the singing line: a single whole, optimizing the transition from one register to another with the least possible timbral change, in a gradual advance in the high range up to the last note , with the coherence of a tenor who has his strengths in full swing bel canto matrix. The means of registration today's, inevitably sophisticated, make it this time full justice, restoring a truthfulness and an inestimable preciousness that do not fear comparisons and offering to listen in all their mystery the “Magical tone”, the "Magic Sounds" that the title of the song promises and demands. The Queen of Sheba returns fascinatingly in another song, “Weakness of the human race…Inspire me, divine race…”, but this time from Gounod, with obvious references to the transcendent, to the solemnity of religious and philosophical meditation, support in difficult moments in the life of body and spirit. Roberto Alagna it is listened to with interest throughout the recording, in which arias of various nature and different motivations follow one another; until reaching the tragic tones of "It's ten o'clock…another six hours…”Domenico “The Last Day of a Condemnedof the brother David Alagna, are idea of the same Roberto and libretto by FrédéricDomenico victor hugowhere everything explodes a very personal inner world.

Such a world, steeped in familiar feelings and life lived, is itself desperate longing for life and he almost sees the materialization of the voice, which makes itself present “bucando” every technical means possible, transcending the means of recording and handing the soul of the interpreter to the listener.

This is a gift that Roberto Alagna seems to possess: that of making oneself not a "voice to be listened to", but above all “spirit to perceive”. He may appear at times as tuned in where mystery: sow bring to know, vibrate and transmit them with a force that in return makes the listening of his voice vibrate and that is received leading to tune into the same frequencies. Who can intake may feel fully absorbed and involved and, perhaps without realizing what is happening, wonder why he wants to listen to him again…and listen to it again… Which is sublimed in the last aria recorded, "Recite…Dress the jacket” from “Pagliacci”, written by Leoncavallo to bring out with the arrogance of passion the essence of life of every human being who has consecrated his own existence to art by treading stage boards.

Here too the above is asserted overbearingly play of mirrors between the man and the interpreter, between the truth of real life and the fiction of the theatre, provided that Roberto Alagna he lives constantly, also in this case fully his own, in the suffering and participatory song, the profound meaning of one of the most famous songs of the’Italian opera and placing it symbolically a conclusion of the CD. The tenor is today one of the most celebrated and celebrated voices of her generation, still and for a long time to be present on the stages of the most prestigious theaters in the world and hopefully also in the lives of those who want to participate in the recording of his artistic testimonies of today, waiting for those of tomorrow. So this CD “My life is an Opera” it really is a great listening, very refined and unusual: to be recommended.

Natalia Dantas

PHOTO PAGINA FACEBOOK ROBERTO ALAGNA, UGO PONTE, AA.VV.

From Roberto Alagna's Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/RobertoAlagna.Tenor?fref=ts

MY LIFE IS AN OPERA (CD) | CHRONICLE by Natalia Di Bartolo for operaeopera.com | “Life is a game of mysterious mirrors driven by fate – You can't help but shiver listening to this CD.”

https://operaeopera.com/…/il-nuovo-cd-di-roberto-alagna-ma-…/

EXCERPTS (translated from Italian):
“Beyond everything that has been written about this CD, we decipher the choice of content: unusual and non-commercial but in good taste […] we can't help but shiver listening to this new CD of the Franco-Sicilian artist.
[…] What emerges from listening to this recording is first and foremost the desire to tell his story through the Opera; a mysterious game of mirrors between man and the characters he plays, between his personal story and that of his “heroes”, “not always positive, but very human and embodied with great intensity”.
[…] The voice has changed over the years, it has matured, the power is still there, but the sound is like “tweaked”, broader and enriched in expression, as if each day lived was contained in what one hears: the experience of life has refined it and the artistic experience has chiseled it. The expression, then, becomes master, but the phrasing and the pronunciation are absolutely to be underlined. It is as if Alagna had two voices, one to sing Italian and the other to sing French.
[…] The “Woman I never saw” by Manon Lescaut by Puccini, is a unique source of inspiration of complete feelings, vocal maturity is expressive. The voice […] is radiant and dynamic. The Italian diction is perfect, as is the phrasing.
[…] Massenet: “Unable to repress … So goodbye …” of Herodiade is understood and transmitted in all the fullness of emotion and feeling.
[…] In German singing, the color and passing notes to reach the falsetto in “Magic tones” by Karl Goldmark, extract from “The Queen of Sheba”, are the finest I have ever heard. […] Alagna’s falsetto is perfect and has a multiplicity of harmonics. […] It reveals a perfect knowledge of the technique, no break in the singing line.
[…] We listen with interest to the entire recording, in which all the tunes and all the different motivations follow one another; until we come to the tragic tone of “It's ten o'clock … another six hours …”, of “Last Day of a Condemned "by David Alagna, on an idea and a libretto by Roberto and Frédérico, based on the book by Victor Hugo, in which a whole very personal inner world explodes.
[…] It is a gift that Roberto Alagna seems to possess: Not giving us “a voice to listen to”, but above all “a spirit to perceive” […] Whoever succeeds in perceiving this spirit, cannot help but come back to this record constantly.[…]
[…] The tenor is today one of the most appreciated and famous voices of his generation, and will be present for a long time to come on the stages of the most prestigious theaters in the world and, let us hope, in the lives of those who listen the recordings of his artistic testimonies of today while waiting for those of tomorrow.”

MY LIFE IS AN OPERA (CD) | REVIEW by Natalia Di Bartolo for operaeopera.com | “Life is a mysterious mirrors effect driven by destiny – One can only be thrilled by listening this CD”

https://operaeopera.com/…/il-nuovo-cd-di-roberto-alagna-ma-…/

EXCERPTS (translated from Italian) :
“Beyond all that has been written about this CD, we can decrypt the choice of the tracklist: unusual, non-commercial, but nice and stylish […] one can only be thrilled by listening to the new album of the French-Sicilian artist.
[…] What emerges from listening to this recording is first and foremost the desire to tell his story through the Opera; a mysterious mirror effect between the man and the characters he plays, between his personal background and that of his “heroes”, “not always positive, but very human and embodied with great intensity.”
[…] The voice has changed over the years, it has matured, the power is still there, but the sound is like “refined”, more open and enriched in expression, as if every day he lived was involved in what we hear: refined by his life experience, chiseled by his art experience. His expressivity, then, is mistress, but his phrasing and pronunciation are absolutely noteworthy. It’s as if Alagna had two voices, one to sing in Italian and the other to sing in French.
[…] “Woman I never saw” from Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, is a unique source of inspiration for complete feelings, vocal maturity is moving. His voice […] is radiant and vibrant. His Italian diction is perfect, just like his phrasing.
[…] Massenet: “Unable to repress … So goodbye…” from Herodiate sounds and conveys feelings in all the fullness of pure emotion.
[…] In the singing in German, the color and the crossing notes performed to reach the falsetto in “Magische Töne” by Karl Goldmark, from “The Queen of Sheba, are the finest I have ever heard. […] Alagna’s falsetto is perfect and renders a multiplicity of harmonics […] It reveals a thorough knowledge of lyrical technique, no break in the vocal line.
[…] We listen with interest to the entire recording, in which all of the arias and all the different motivations succeed; until we come to the tragic tone of “il est dix heures … another six hours …”, from “The Last Day of a Condemned Man” by David Alagna, based on an idea and a libretto by Roberto and Frederico, from Victor Hugo’s novel, in which explodes a very rich and personal inner world.
[…] It is a gift that Roberto Alagna seems to own: to give us not just “a voice to listen,” but above all “a spirit to feel and perceive” […] The one who manages to feel this spirit can’t help but constantly return to this recording.
[…] The tenor is today one of the most appreciated and best-known voice of his generation, and he will be for a long time on the stages of the most prestigious Opera Houses in the world and, hopefully in the lives of those who enjoy today’s records of his artistic activity, awaiting tomorrow’s.”

#MaVieEstUnOpera #MyLifeIsAnOpera‬