"VERDI: ARIAS".(Review)

Thomas Hampson

[] "VERDI: ARIAS" Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Armstrong. Texts and translations. EMI 57113-2

The hundredth anniversary of Giuseppe Verdi's death, in 1901, has not produced the flood of new releases that would have been expected a few years ago. But here is a recording by Thomas Hampson of unusual musical interest and fine execution that is more than a self-recommending purchase for Verdians.

Pride of place goes to a welcome performance of music from Les Vepres Siciliennes in the original French. Operagoers have long been in despair over the dearth of performances of Verdi's Paris operas in their original language. The Metropolitan Opera, for example, has never given a single performance of Don Carlos or Les Vepres Siciliennes as Verdi conceived them, instead using the standard Italian translations. The performance here of "Au sein de la puissance" (Vepres) has a rare sense of inevitability. Hampson shows a close involvement with the text, as he also did working with native French speakers Jose van Dam and Roberto Alagna in Antonio Pappano's recording of Don Carlos. Conductor Richard Armstrong shapes the scene with assurance. Too often, the tempo of the second strophe of the aria, with the same notes sung to a much busier accompaniment, bears little relation to the first. This happens even in James Levine's recording of the Italian version, and it obscures one of Verdi's interesting formal experiments. This new performance highlights Verdi's occasional kinship with his Paris rival Meyerbeer, particularly at the prayer, "Le ciel vient apparaitre." Hampson also offers a rare rendition from the French revision of Il Trovatore. His legato is especially good here, aided by soft j's and r's, rather than explosive sp's and b's, and he offers an elegant cadenza reminiscent of a smoothly bowed cello line.

Recording an aria from La Traviata is seldom an act of programming daring, but Hampson here gives a correction to generations of performances. The cabaletta after Germont's aria "Di Provenza" is all but unknown in the opera house. Hampson sings the complete scene (with tenor Daniil Shtoda), and it gives the baritone role a true, rounded character so often missing onstage. Without the cabaletta, baritones are tempted to throw everything they have into "Di Provenza," making it a musical-comedy number where a simpler, folk-song feel is in order. Hampson gives a detailed, differentiated interpretation, and Armstrong again ...