Search - Alain Vanzo :: Grands Airs D'Opera

Fabulous French tenor!!

J. Runaas | Iowa, USA | 08/31/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just purchased this album after hearing a friend's recording of Les Pecheurs de perles, in which he sang Nadir. Sadly, there are no selections from that opera on this disc...

Mr. Vanzo has an incredible tenor leggiero voice, vibrantly ringing and agile. The voice, while well rounded, is not so bottom heavy as most lyric tenors; most would probably describe his voice as light, however with the incredible ring I'm sure his voice carried beautifully. If I had to describe his voice in one word, it would be "effortless," he makes it sound like just opens his mouth and beautiful music comes out. Not many tenors have the bravery or technique to diminuendo while singing a C5, but Vanzo makes it sound effortless, especially on "Salut, demeure chaste et pure." When is the last time you heard a high C sung piano? Simply heavenly, gives me goosebumps! Along with his excellent voice, he sings with an incredible sense of musicianship; I get the feeling that while on stage he was one of the few opera singers that actually made the characters seem believable :-)

The selections on this album are from the following operas:

Gounod: Faust, Romeo et Juliette, Mireille

Massenet: Werther, Manon

Puccini: Tosca, Manon Lescaut

Leoncavallo: Cavalleria Rusticana

Rossini: L'Italienne a Alger

Verdi: Rigoletto

Delibes: Lakme

Now, as far as the CD itself goes: French printing, and as such every song is sung in French. I don't find myself missing the Italian very often as the voice is so lovely, but I'm sure some people will be bothered by this.

The CD case is one of the printed cardboard kind with the hard plastic insert.

Sound quality is quite passable, especially considering the songs on this disc were originally recorded anywhere from 1956 to 1965.

Overall, I think this album is definitely worth getting for any lovers of the voice, as it gives another example of the wide variety of beautiful voices in the world. Alain Vanzo does not sound like Jussi Bjorling or Pavarotti, he sounds like himself and I love him for it!!"