Customer Reviews

Ideale: Songs of Paolo Tosti ~ Heppner

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Anybody who records Tosti songs today faces formidable competition from 100 years of recordings.Battistini, Caruso, Ponselle, Bjoerling, and Pavarotti---to name some Tosti interpreters I'm familiar with---set high standards in this material. In this august company Mr. Heppner fares very well indeed. His " A Vucchella" may be a bit slower than Ponselle's, and his "Ideale" slower than Bjoerling's, but Mr. Heppner finds in this music just about everything there is to find. His mezza-voce pp half-octave leap at the end of "Ideale" is thrilling and perfectly matched to the music. On this CD, Mr. Heppner exercises more than one ascending diminuendo in full voice without resorting to falsetto, and this alone justifies having this disc.He gets to the heart of this material without once lapsing into sentimentality. If he seems more successful with the songs set to Italian texts than he is with the English- and French-language songs, that's very probably because Tosti himself seems to have been more successful in setting Italian words. And one has to be patient in listening to some of this material---particularly the English-language songs---especially if this CD is serving as one's introduction to the 19th-century salon style. We're not used to the salon style any more than we are to the silent-film style. We've grown up with different genres. On the other hand, Mr. Heppner's readings of the great songs "Non t'amo piu", "L'alba separa dalla luce l'ombra", and "Ideale" need no introduction and serve to demonstrate how good Tosti really is at his best. I hope Mr. Heppner makes another Tosti CD and includes "Serenata", "Luna d'Estate", "Marechiare", and "Chi dici, o parola del Saggio"---this last one is the fourth of the four-song set "Quattro Canzoni d'Amaranta" this composer set to Italian texts by Gabriele d'Annunzio. (Mr. Heppner sings the first three of that set on the present disc, in addition to "A Vucchella", the latter with a d'Annunzio text in Abbruzzese dialect. Both Tosti and d'Annunzio were born in the Abbruzzi.) Very sensitive accompaniments, clear recording, informative notes, full texts and translations. Don't miss this one.

It hasn't stood Tosti well that he was a favorite of Queen victoria's, or that his songs were a staple in parlors with potted palms. Ben Heppner here leads a one-man Tosti revival, accompanied by a salon ensemble that perfectly suits the sweet sentimentality of the songs. The singer clearly loves the music--he toured with this group and often adds Tosti to his encores. With his gleaming voice, Heppner lifts the gorgeous melodic lines into a higher realm. "Ideale" is the most famous and perhaps the greatest of Toosti's tunes, but there are a handful on that plane, and the rest bring nostalgic delight.

While other tenors may have the name recognition, Ben Heppner has the goods. Heppner is no stranger to my CD collection, with numerous opera recordings as well as non-opera disks such as "My Secret Heart." What separates Heppner from the others is that he is ALWAYS at the service of the music. He approaches Tosti's songs in a manner that serves them, rather than imposing his voice/style on the music. This disc may not have the widespread appeal that "My Secret Heart" (should have) had for non-hardcore opera fans, but if you like this style of music, this is a fantastic recording.