Customer Reviews

The Very Best of Placido Domingo

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Placido Domingo has been around for so long, it is easy to take this great artist for granted. I totally agree with the previous reviews of this album; I can also say that I had the opportunity to hear him live in concert on April 2, 2005 in Biloxi, Mississippi, and his voice is still stunning. His opening aria that night was the prayer from El Cid, "O Souverain," which he dedicated to the memory of Pope John Paul II. This piece is the 8th selection on CD 1, and is from a 1997 live recording. His thrilling finish blew me away when I listened to it the first time, and and the crowd on the recording reacts the same way the Mississippi audience did when we heard him. That aria alone is worth the price of this CD set.

Fans of Mr. Domingo would be lucky to find a selection of music that more profoundly explores and exhibits the diversity of his vocal ability and interpretation than is offered on these two discs. Delicious displays of Mozart, ringing renditions of the most challenging high Italian roles, powerfully rounded accounts of some of the heavy German/Russian repetoir, and some noticably nostalgic songs from the light Spannish tradition provide an impressive catalogue of the great man's rich, focussed, technically impecable and singularly beguiling vocal talent. Those who are yet to form an opinion on any particular genre of the operatic spectrum would do well to start here, so eclectic is this album. Also, you might be reassured to know that, should you become an admirer of P.D.'s talent as a result of listening to this compilation, (it is difficult to resist), you will have no trouble finding other recordings by him. A record-breaker with more than 110 roles to his repetoir (40 is a respected total for an opera singer), he is the most recorded tenor in history, leaving more than 80 complete accounts to date of operas in the Italian, French, German and Russian traditions.

EMI's "The Very Best Of" series is a wonderful way for the opera lover/novice or even connoisseur in training to get acquainted with the great singers of opera in the 20th century. It is possible that in a few years, the great singers of today (from the 90's up to now and further into the future) will grace the album covers of The Very Best Of...The Very Best Of Renee Fleming, The Very Best Of Salvatore Licitra, etc. This is not exactly the best of Domingo. It is more of a collection of rare and wonderfully expressive arias from operas that range all over the map- Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, Meyerbeer, Gounod, Massenet. Now, here's the reason why so many people adore Domingo, myself included - Domingo is a Renaissance Opera Tenor. He has sung almost every tenor role in the opera universe. Even if he is, to some, the "tenor who sang with Pavoratti in the three tenors" he proves he's the strongest of the bunch, the most dedicated, the most prolific and most artistic. Domingo has a beautiful voice, with secure high register and dark, masculine middle chest voice and exciting dramatic electricity! He's sung more than 50 operas, in addition operetta and Spanish Zarzuela (the Spanish equivalent to musicals or operetta which is where he got started and his parents sung in Zarzuela) and he has also recorded Spanish mainstream love songs for Latin audiences. A winner of Grammies, an actor in movies about operas that he starred in (Tosca, La Traviata, Otello) and the most active tenor on tv broadcasts, he is just incredible and powerful.
He is a great force in opera.

Even in his old age, he does'nt seem to be slowing down or call it quits. Recent performances (2000-2005) include Eugene Onegin, the lead in Queen of Spades, Rasputin in Debra Dratell's Nicolas and Alexandra, Idomeneo and his next role Parsifal. He is the singular tenor who mastered every repertoire- Mozart (Don Ottavio, Tamino...unfortunately Domingo as Don Giovanni is a miscast because he is too noble and romantic and GOOD to be a bad guy)..to Puccini heros (Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca, Dick Johnson in Fanciualla Del West, Rodolfo in Boheme, Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly, Calaf in Turandot) Verdi heroes (Radames in Aida, Don Carlos, Stiffelio, etc) to the French repertoire...Gounod (Faust, Romeo) Meyerbeer heroes, Massenet hero (Des Grieux, Le Cid) and Saint Saens (Samson) the list goes on and on. When this man dies, an era will die with him. His legend will live on because he will leave behind dozens of albums, movies and memories......

Placido Domingo, of course, is one of the finest tenors of the latter part of the 20th century. This 2 CD set well captures his talent, showing the range of his singing. We hear cuts from Puccini and Verdi to Tchaikovsky and Wagner to Strauss and Handel. And even a traditional Spanish sung and some operetta thrown in for good measure!

This is a wonderful introduction to his artistry, and shows that he can sing well across a variety of styles and eras. Let's sample some cuts:

"Il mio Tesoro" (from Mozart's Don Giovanni) is a difficult aria to sing well. And Domingo is up to the challenge. He displays a smooth and rich voice. His is one of those distinctive tenor voices, like Tucker's or Pavarotti's, that is quickly recognizable. This is, as noted, a challenging piece and Domingo handles it well, showing off considerable vocal agility in the process.

From the same opera, "La ci darem la mano," a sweet duet with, in this instance, soprano Susan Graham. This seductive work is sung well by both parties and is a ravishing version.

From Puccini's "Tosca," "Recondita armonia." At the close, his voice rises above orchestra and chorus. Overall, well and richly sung.

And now for something very different. . . The "Forging Scene" from Siegfried. One may not think of Domingo as a heldentenor, but he does a serviceable job here. His voice sometimes appears a bit light, but, overall, he does estimable work. He catches Siegfried's spirit as he forges the shattered remains of his father's sword, "Nothung." When he sings the name of his sword at the close, with the leitmotif ringing out from the orchestra, it is an affecting moment.

Then, "Celeste Aida" (from Verdi's opera). A stentorian voice well deployed to meet the challenges of this wonderful aria. Some tenors scoop as they move from those lower to the higher notes; Domingo's voice is well controlled here. The final high note is well hit.

Strauss (Junior's) "Ach, wie so herrlich zu schau'n" is a romp! A fun piece and well sung by Domingo. He demonstrates, as before, excellent vocal agility.

Lehar's "O Vaterland" is also fun. It is a sprightly tune sprightly sung.

Finally, he ends the second CD with a traditional Spanish tune--"La Golondrina." He does not overpower this work with operatic technique. He sings it well and affectingly.

So, all in all, if one wants a good introduction to Placido Domingo's vocal oeuvre, this is a very strong starting point.

No miscellany should be called "the very best of," especially when it issues from EMi, the major label that Domingo has recorded for the least. Perhaps the appropriate title would be more like "the Domingo recordings we have around." The two-star reviewer gives too low a rating wile making the right points. CD 1 has some 1970s selections that find Domingo in the wrong world stylistically - he has the phenomenal ability to sing almost anything, yet His Mozart and Handel are produced with the kind of sharp-focus intensity that cannot be automatically transferred from Verdi.

In a recent PBS special he said that he had a special liking for French opera (Domingo has sung Samson et Delila, for example, more than a hundred times and is a passionately effective Werther). Here we get a thrilling version, in younger voice, of the l'Africaine aria that he sang memorably under Giulini on DG at a gala Los Angeles concert. "Salut! Demeure chaste et pure" from Faust isn't at all "right" if you have true French tenors in your ears, but neither is Carreras's version, and any opera house would be thrilled to have someone of Domingo's caliber. Domingo's major strength - that e can sing with vocal authority and musical good taste in six languages - also undermines him when he's not in the main current of Italian opera (and zarzuela). He begins to sound like the world's greatest all-purpose tenor.

CD 1 gives us one of the great benefits of Domingo's all-purpose abilities in some Wagner arias, a repertoire he conquered not by sounding very German or even mastering the language but by being the best voice at a time when rivals were scarce. He used his own money to help finance Tristan, and adding in his other Wagner albums, you get the actual best from EMI's Domingo catalog. We also get alternate versions of roles for which the tenor was justly famous, including Cavaradossi (his most repeated role at over 250 performances), Des Grieux, and Ramirez from Fanciulla del West. Of these, I cherish him most in Manon Lescaut, although the preferred complete version would be under Sinopoli on DG. Domingo's big late success in Russian opera came in Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades; here we get the one Russian aria every tenor sings, Lensky's from Eugene Onegin, and by a small miracle Domingo's timbre sounds very comfortable, all but Slavic.

CD 2 begins with evidence for why Domingo is such a noted Verdian: he's scrupulous, focused, and ardent. As Rhadames or Otello there have always been questions about whether the voice was hefty enough, and by the standards of Del Monaco and Vickers it isn't; nevertheless Domingo made both signature roles using all his other virtues, and a shrug to those who complain that he never had a reliable high C. I find him more naturally right in Un ballo and La forza, but all the Verdi excerpts are impeccable.

EMI might have done better to give us more Verdi and Puccini, but they wanted to emphasize Domingo's versatility, so we venture into repertoire where I have real doubts, Viennese operetta. Competing in Wagner is one ting, but trying to poach on the precincts of Wunderlich and Tauber, or even Nicolai Gedda, is unconvincing. As singing per se, however, these excerpts are enjoyable enough, but Domingo finds it hard to put a smile in his voice, and suave charm isn't his long suit. To make up for that we get excellent Spanish numbers, from zarzuela to crossover pop arrangements, and although the latter are soupy, you can't help but respond to Domingo's total authority in this music.

I have many of Mr. Domingo's recordings but I really love this one. He seems to get better with age. Some of the songs are on some of my other recordings but they seem new and fresh on this CD. I really think this is the best of Placido Domingo.

I'm an opera neophyte but even I can tell that this inexpensive 2-disk set is a low quality production. This is a collection of late-career live performances, late-career studio performances and a few studio tracks from the 1970s. Maestro Domingo's voice is not in top form on many of the tracks, in others the orchestra drowns out the voice, and the sound is unbalanced and muddy throughout. If there's any saving grace it is that this is a diverse and unusual collection (no 'Nessun Dorma' to be found here). In my opinion these two disks are not a good introduction to the great operatic tenor Placido Domingo.