Vittorio Grigolo - Verissimo (2024) [Official Digital Download]

Powerful and also subtly characterizing, Vittorio Grigòlo makes a convincing return after a long break: with verismo arias from Mascagni, Cilea to Puccini, in which the celebrated tenor gives his all.

The new Sony Classical album "Verissimo" by Vittorio Grigòlo, one of the best tenors in the world, contains some of the most popular arias from Italian opera. "Verissimo" means "very true" in Italian and is a reference to the word "verismo", the lyrical and passionate operatic style that flourished in the late 19th century. The works of the composers represented here - from the beginnings of the style with Ponchielli's "La Gioconda" to its full flowering with Giacomo Puccini, Pietro Mascagni and their contemporaries - require a freedom of expression, an immediacy to convey strong, elemental feelings. Grigòlo explains: "I wanted to call it Verissimo because, in a way, this music is so absolutely truthful. The feelings go straight through you - they are not calculated. In verismo, everything happens as quickly as in real life."

The aria program reflects these fundamental human emotions, whether it is love, betrayal, jealousy or revenge. The most important examples include "Recitar! … Vesti la giubba" from Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci", one of the most harrowing soliloquies in Italian opera, and "Nessun dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot" with its unique main theme and magnificent top notes. The verismo tenor roles on the album are decidedly diverse characters, including a broken-hearted clown (Canio in "Pagliacci"), a passionately idealistic poet (Andrea Chénier in Giordano's opera of the same name), an ardent lover who is also a courageous war hero (Maurizio in Cilea's "Adriana Lecouvreur"), and a bitterly disillusioned showman (Luigi in Puccini's "Il Tabarro").

TRACKLIST

1 Mefistofele, Act I, Scene 2: Dai campi, dai prati
2 Iris, Act I: Apri la tua finestra!
3 La Gioconda, Act II, Scene 4: Cielo e mar!
4 Adriana Lecouvreur Act II, Scene 2: L'anima ho stanca
5 Adriana Lecouvreur Act I, Scene 5: La dolcissima effigie
6 Andrea Chenier, Act IV: Come un bel di di maggio
7 Andrea Chenier, Act I: Colpito qui m'avete … Un di all'azzurro spazio
8 Cavalleria rusticana, Scene 11: Mamma, quel vino e generoso
9 Il tabarro: Hai ben ragione
10 La fanciulla del West, Act III: Ch'ella mi creda libero
11 Madama Butterfly, Act III: Addio, fiorito asil
12 Pagliacci, Act I, Scene 3: Recitar! … Vesti la giubba
13 Turandot, Act I: Non piangere, Liu!
14 Turandot, Act III: Nessun dorma!
15 Cavalleria rusticana: Ave Maria



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