Search - Gigli/Stignani/Bechi/Caniglia :: Giuseppe Verdi: Aida

"My first reaction on hearing this recording again was that to sing Radamès, Gigli denies the sweetness of his voice and belts, making him sound more ordinary. Then I realized that he successfully redesigns his singing for this role: his objective is not to put forward beauty of sound but to feel the emotions in the music and words. No other recorded tenor sings the part with so much temperament or such variety of inflection. But the inflections aren't a series of chiaroscuro effects, as in Butterfly; instead, they are dictated by his viscera. His fire quickly swept me away." -- Stefan Zucker