Category Archives: Tenors

All of Jussi Björling’s Commercial Recordings on the Web

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 22nd April 2012

New posts will resume next month. In the meanwhile visit this site  which contains all of the solo commercial recordings made by the great Swedish tenor. There are a few excerpts with other singers, but most of the material is solo.    


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Pourquoi Me Réveiller?

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 14th February 2012

Werther is Massenet’s masterpiece. It’s an ode to self pity. It and Manon are the only operas, out of more than 30 by Massenet, that are firmly in the standard repertory. The opera, based on Goethe’s novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, depicts its protagonist’s unsuccessful and ultimately suicidal love for his friend’s fiance and then wife. If Werther had…


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Recording of the Week – The Maltese Tenor

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 9th January 2012

At first I thought that this album featured Humphrey Bogart. Then I thought it was about a small dog. At last I realized it was tenor Joseph Calleja’s (born Jan 22, 1978 – yet another January birthday) newest album of arias and duets. He’s from Malta and some PR person had a goofy idea for…


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Je Crois Encore Entendre

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 4th September 2011

As promised here is the other famous number from Bizet’s opera Les pêcheurs de perles. The aria can be sung in many ways, all of which can be effective if the tenor is good enough. Perhaps no singer was more identified with the song than Beniamino Gigli (1890 – 1957). Accordingly, I’ve included two recordings of…


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Michael Spyres – Young American Tenor

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 17th April 2011

Michael Spyres is a young American (born in Mansfield Missouri) tenor who is just coming to international attention. He has a rich lyric tenor that is bright and focused. Spyres has just about the rarest gift that can be bestowed on a tenor; he can sing softly with full vocal support. The next few years will be critical…


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Melchior and Gigli – March 20, 1890

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 20th March 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_9c_xDTDvk]

Today is the birthday of two of opera’s supremely gifted tenors – Lauritz Melchior and Beniamino Gigli. Not only were they born on the same day, but in the same year. Below is Melchior singing Dio mi potevei scagliar from Verdi’s Otello. He sang the role at the Met only one time, and only it’s…


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Yonghoon Lee’s Met Radio Debut

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th December 2010

The young Korean tenor Yonghoon Lee who made his debut at the Met last month to much acclaim in the title role of Verdi’s Don Carlo appeared for the first time on the Met’s Saturday afternoon broadcasts yesterday – again as Don Carlo. His voice was much more appropriate for the part than was the over matched Roberto Alagna who sang most of the…


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Who Can Sing Fanciulla?

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th December 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0YYy9KrGeI]

After listening to the broadcast from the Met of Puccini’s La Fanciulla Del West last night, I asked myself who can sing the two principal roles in the opera? Certainly not the two who performed them yesterday. Deborah Voigt in the title role sounded like she was on leave from the old folks home, while…


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Les Huguenots – Act 4 Duet

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 23rd November 2010

Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864) is roughly treated nowadays. But his operas did have a century long run which is far more than most composers for the stage get or can expect. And they still are occasionally performed. The best of them is likely Les Huguenots – premiered in 1836. Berlioz thought it an unqualified masterpiece. Perhaps the most…


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Two That Got Away

Written by Neil Kurtzman | 2nd October 2010

I wrote this article 14 year ago. It is no longer online; so I decided to republish it here. A few months ago I wrote a piece about tenors. In it, I discussed the nine tenors who I thought were the best of this century. Obviously, I made a very subjective choice that many would…


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