Customer Reviews

The Singers: Mario del Monaco

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Though he doesn't have the sweet voices of the tenors around today, and he can be very histronic in his acting, Del Monaco is among one of my favorite opera singers simply because you can tell he loved doing it more than anything else. He's so invested in everything he does. And it shows in everything he does on this recording. His Wagner is most suprising, i found it just as exciting as some of his italian material and his voice, to my untrained ear, sounds comfortable in the material. And i always like hearing opera singers doing broadway, even if his accent is a little thick, just because of the size of the voice. Unlike the recording in the same series for Di Stefano, Del Monaco is still in a good voice, and in roles that really suit the voice. The Wagner makes me wish he had done more in that direction. If there's one thing i wish was on this recording, and which, if you haven't heard, go hear it, is Del Monaco's "Esultate" from Otello, a moment in Opera in whic Del Monaco's massive voice thunders from his throat. Truly wonderful! Otherwise, a great choice.

This is also fun because it's an interactive cd which you can play on your computer, which has all the text right on your computer screen, along with a little Del Monaco biography and some fun pictures of Del Monaco as different roles. My personal favorite is one of him recording Otello, you can see even though he's recording in a studio he's completely involved in the action of the music and the play....

I have no musical skills and no technical knowledge of any instrument or voice, I just know what I like and I like this CD. Mario Del Monaco is in my opinion one of the great tenors of the twentieth century but most (if not all)of his recordings were made at a time when audio technology didn't measure up to today standards. This rework of those old recordings is in my opinion great. His voice was loud and some called it raw power, what ever it was this recording reveals that special quality.