Ramon Vargas.(Sound Recording Review)

"BETWEEN FRIENDS" Duets and a trio by Bizet, Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini. With Gauci, Kasarova, Lavarian; Gerello, Frontali, Lanza, Nucci; Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Sutej. Texts and translations. RCA Red Seal 82876-52440-2

Ramon Vargas and a small group of colleagues--most with some association to Vargas's record label, BMG--have joined forces to examine the idea of friendship in opera through eight selections, most of them chestnuts, with a brief excursion into lesser-known territory. The results make for a pleasing CD, dominated by this admirable tenor, whose warmth and charm go a long way toward putting across an obvious gimmick and transforming it into a welcome collection.

What could open the disc more effectively than the popular "Au fond du temple saint," known to fans simply as The Pearl Fishers duet? Here, Vargas is joined by Russian baritone Vassily Gerello, who made a fine impression with his dramatically potent and well-shaded singing of Macbeth when the Kirov last visited the Met. Gerello, under the scrutiny of the microphone, sounds a bit thick in spots in this excerpt, but he and Vargas modulate their delivery nicely together, and they perform the duet without the cut often imposed in concert. A trio follows, "in questi estremi istanti" from Rossini's Maometto II, in which the melody is taken by the three principals--here, in addition to Vargas, mezzo Vesselina Kasarova and soprano Barbara Lavarian. Kasarova's very personal vocal production and approach to Rossini are familiar entities, serving this selection very well. And the music is divine.

In the Nemorino/Dulcamara duet from L'Elisir d'Amore, Vargas's appealing country bumpkin finds his foil in Leo Nucci's crafty swindler. Nucci, a Verdi baritone, does nor resort, even at this stage in his career, to the buffo barking that often mars this character's music. (Not that there isn't a fine tradition there; no one who ever heard even late-career ...