Annibale: O Paese d' 'o sole

‘Arrivederci’ follows the massive success of Vittorio’s debut album ‘In The Hands of Love’. The album shot into the top 10 of the UK album chart, and the hottest new tenor was quickly snapped up to perform duets with Nicole Scherzinger and the legendary Lionel Richie. Vittorio Grigolo had sensationally arrived.

A stunning collection of thirteen of the best Italian songs and opera arias personally chosen by Vittorio Grigolo, his second album for Sony Classical, proves just why his recent appearance in Faust at the Royal Opera House garnered rave reviews. Inspiring critics to proclaim Vittorio as “Irresistible” – Daily Telegraph and “Explosively dynamic” – The Independent, the performance has secured Vittorio’s place as an opera star for a brand new generation.

‘Arrivederci’ combines Grigolo’s selection of songs from the past century that are steeped in Italian tradition with a handful of beautiful arias. Recorded with Pier Giorgio Morandi conducting the Orchestra del Teatro Regio di Parma, this album is a deeply personal homage to the music with which the great tenors of the past have thrilled generations of music lovers.

From incomparable arias such as Verdi’s La donna è mobile (Rigoletto) and Giordano’s Amor ti vieta to the quintessentially Neapolitan tunes of Core ‘ngrato (Cardillo) and Mattinata (Leoncavallo), ‘Arrivederci’ reflects the sounds and traditions of a period in Vittorio’s life he will never forget.

Vittorio Grigolo, born in Tuscany and raised in Rome, became a soloist in the choir of the Sistine Chapel at the age of nine, sang the role of the shepherd boy in Puccini’s Tosca in the Rome Opera alongside Luciano Pavarotti at 13, and at 23 was the youngest tenor ever to debut at la Scala in Milan. So far, he has sold over 350,000 albums worldwide.

José Carreras returns to his roots with a Mediterranean song album, featuring popular and rare traditional songs from the Mediterranean, music from Spain and Italy.

Be it Neapolitan composers such as Eduardo Di Capua and Vincenzo D'Annibale, or a native of Catalonia like Josep Ribas – they have all translated the Mediterranean joie de vivre into music in their canzoni and songs. Many of these have become popular the world over, and have been a vital part of every great tenor's repertoire since Caruso's day In the 30 plus years of his international career, José Carreras has made these a fundamental part of his repertoire. Now he returns to his roots with his new album, Mediterranean Passion. "These are songs from my native Catalonia", says Carreras. "Songs that always move me when I hear them. And there are songs from Italy that I came to love at an early age." Among the 15 songs that Carreras has recorded with the Ambassade Orchestra of Vienna under the baton of David Giménez, we find Vincenzo D'Annibale's (1894-1950) O paese d'o sole, which takes its inspiration from Neapolitan folk music. Josep Ribas (1882/83-1934) contributes the famous aria Rosó from his opera Pel teu amor of 1922. Opera and folk music have always had a strong influence on each other in Italy, as can be clearly heard in the canzone Fenesta che lucive by bel canto pioneer Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835). In addition to classics like Lazzaro's Chitarra Romana, Carreras has also selected pieces by lesser-known composers such as Gaetano Lama (1868-1950) and Salvatore Gambardella (1873-1913). As one of two bonus tracks, José Carreras sings Solamente una vez by the Mexican Augustin Lara (1896-1970), in which he is partnered by the Cuban-American pop star Gloria Estefan.

Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn

One of the most charismatic stars of the post-war operatic stage, the Italian tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano made numerous recordings, and was especially renowned as the performing partner of the equally fiery soprano, Maria Callas.

Having earned a precarious living as a singer of popular songs in Milan during World War Two, Di Stefano was also a highly accomplished singer of lighter music.

This experience, allied with the natural richness of his tenor voice, made him a master of the Neapolitan Song, as may be heard in this collection of his recordings of the cream of the repertoire, made at the peak of his career.

“Was it Giuseppe Di Stefano’s spontaneity and involvement in what he was singing which attracted so many collectors to his recordings? If one listens to his early 78s, one hears a third quality: the sheer beauty of his lyric tenor…Those recordings have been reissued a number of times and should be on the shelf of all who love the singing voice.” International Record Review

On the evening of July 7, 1990, an `impossible dream' came true: the three greatest tenors of the day joined forces with an orchestra of 200 musicians against a backdrop of the majestic scenery of ancient Rome.

In the famous Baths of Caracalla in Rome, on a brilliant starlit night with a full moon rising, Placido Domingo, José Carreras, and Luciano Pavarotti, together with Maestro Zubin Mehta, presented an evening of arias, songs and medleys which was unique in musical history.

For the 6,000 fortunate people who crowded into Caracalla that evening, it was an experience never to be forgotten. This recording is a document of that special performance, recorded live on the occasion, as a souvenir for music-lovers everywhere.

The original 1990 digital multi-track recording has been newly re-mastered, maintaining the recorded sound in the digital domain throughout the mixing, editing and CD transfer stages, giving an increased fidelity and presence to this unique recording.

Franco Corelli began his stage career in Italy in 1951. With his powerful voice, charismatic stage presence and film-star good looks he soon became one of the 20th century’s outstanding operatic superstars.

He first came to prominence when he sang opposite Maria Callas at La Scala, Milan, in a production of La vestale in 1954. He subsequently partnered Callas at La Scala in Fedora and Poliuto and later appeared with her at the end of her stage career in Norma in Paris in 1964 and Tosca in New York in 1965.

Corelli made a spectacular debut at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, in January 1961 in Verdi’s Il trovatore. He quickly became the Met’s leading tenor and performed there every season until 1974.

He recorded extensively for EMI throughout the 1960s, when he made a number of complete operas as well as several albums of operatic arias and songs.

This 4 CD set brings together the best of Corelli’s EMI recordings. From his operatic catalogue come a substantial number of arias, as well as duets with Birgit Nilsson, Mirella Freni, Antonietta Stella and Gabriella Tucci.

The operatic composers whose works are included in the set are Bellini, Donizetti, Catalani, Ponchielli, Cilea, Massenet, Gounod, Meyerbeer, Verdi, Puccini, Giordano, Mascagni and Leoncavallo, and some of the operas represented are Turandot, I puritani, Norma, Un ballo in maschera, Il trovatore, La forza del destino, Aida, Roméo et Juliette, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci.

In addition to the operatic material, there are a large number of songs, including popular Neapolitan titles such as ‘Core ’ngrato’, ‘Torna a Surriento’ and ‘’O sole mio’, plus other items like ‘Granada’, Schubert’s Ave Maria and the Ingemisco from Verdi’s Requiem.

This album also includes a song recorded in Milan in 1961: ‘Si tu m’amais’ by Luigi Denza, that has never been issued either on LP or on CD since its initial release only in Italy in 1962 on a 45 rpm single.