Placido Domingo - The Essential Placido Domingo (2004) "Reload"

I grew up with Placido Domingo. Not in the sense of being boyhood friends, but rather in the sense that he was part of my "Golden Age" at the Metropolitan Opera. Of the "Three Tenors" (more Marketing hype than useful grouping of three fine singers) Domingo was the most dramatic - the "heaviest" of the three. His repertoire extended well beyond the lyric - and that's why this collection is not all the "essential" Domingo, but rather offers an interesting look at the lighter, more lyric side of Placido Domingo. You won't find Lohengrin or Otello here, but you will find many of the more lyric tenor arias from Verdi, Puccini and Donizetti - to name a few.
There is an "edge" to Domingo's voice that perhaps accounts for his ability to transition successfully into the heavier repertory. I find that tonal quality particularly noticeable in this collection - and sometimes too pronounced. On the other hand, there are a few wonderful surprises. His "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'elisir d'amore is a stand out. Its rare you here a tenor with this much power sing the role. The duet "Bima dagli occhi" from Madama Butterfly with Renata Scotto, again casts Pinkerton with a quality tenor not often found in the opera house any more. I loved the selection from Gianni Schicchi - when is the last time you found Rinuccio cast with this size tenor voice - and the Italian tenor's aria from Rosenkavalier is a treasure from a recording currently out of print. And then there is one of Domingo's signature roles - Jack Rance in Puccini's La Fanciulla del West. No one sings Rance better than Domingo - and the excerpt from the complete recording finds Domingo at his very best.
Disk two is devoted to song - popular and classical. There is a fair amount of tripe - too much cross over (as in who needs to hear Domingo sing "The Impossible Dream" from Man of La Mancha - Broadway is not Mr. Domingo's genre). But there are some wonderful cuts as well - "Granada" is a Domingo encore specialty, and I was particularly struck by the song "In Pace" from the motion picture Hamlet - I never saw the film and was truly taken aback at how beautiful a song this is, and Domingo's voice soars.

Tracklist:

CD1
1. Nessun dorma! (Turandot/Giacomo Puccini) (3:04)
2. Se quel guerrier io fossi!. . . Celeste Aida (Aida/Giuseppe Verdi) (4:14)
3. Ch'ella Mi Creda Libero E Lontano (La Fanciulla Del West/Giacomo Puccini) (2:11)
4. Una furtiva lagrima (L'elisir d'amore/Gaetano Donizetti) (4:36)
5. Quando Le Sere Al Placido (Luisa Miller/Giuseppe Verdi) (3:53)
6. Bimba Dagli Occhi… (Madama Butterfly/Giacomo Puccini) (10:52)
7. Addio, Fiorito Asil (Madama Butterfly/Giacomo Puccini) (2:04)
8. Ingemisco (Requiem/Giuseppe Verdi) (4:11)
9. Amor ti vieta (Fedora/Umberto Giordano) (1:51)
10. Sincero Amor… (Adriana Lecouvreur/ Francesco Cilea) (6:40)
11. Ah! tout est bien fini - O souverain, o juge, o père (Le Cid/Jules Massenet) (5:25)
12. Apri la tua finestra! (Iris/Pietro Mascagni) (2:21)
13. E Lucevan Le Stelle (Tosca/ Puccini) (2:44)
14. Firenze è come un albero fiorito (Gianni Schicchi/Puccini) (2:14)
15. Di rigori armato il seno (Der Rosenkavalier/Richard Strauss) (2:20)
16. Sole e amore (Giacomo Puccini) (2:00)
17. Von der Jugend (Das Lied von der Erde/Gustav Mahler) (3:14)
18. Di quella pira (Il Trovatore/Verdi) (1:51)

CD2
1. Te quiero Morena - Jota (El Trust De Los Tenorios/Jose Serrano) (2:32)
2. La roca fria del Calvario (Romanze) (La Dolorosa/Jose Serrano) (3:59)
3. Por el humo se sabe donde está el fuego (Dõna Francisquita/Amadeo Vives) (4:07)
4. Suite Española - Granada (Augustin Lara) (4:06)
5. Andalucia (Ernesto Lecuone, Emillio de Torre) (2:51)
6. Serenata Tapatia (Manuel Esperon, Ernesto Cortazar) (2:22)
7. Adoro (Armando Manzanero) (3:25)
8. Siempre En Mi Corazón (Ernesto Lecuona) (3:31)
9. Malaguena (Ernesto Lecuona) (3:24)
10. Dulcinea (Man of La Mancha/ Mitch Leigh, Joe Darion) (2:16)
11. The Impossible Dream (Man of La Mancha/ Mitch Leigh, Joe Darion) (2:21)
12. In Pace (from Hamlet original Motion picture soundtrack/Patrick Doyle) (3:11)
13. Maria (West Side Story/ Leonard Bernstein, Steven Sondheim) (2:52)
14. Perhaps Love (John Denver) (2:59)
15. Love Come For Me (Love Theme from Splash/ Lee Holdridge, Will Jennings) (3:27)
16. Love Until The End Of Time (Lee Holdridge, Carol Connors) (3:04)

Performer: Placido Domingo
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Leonard Bernstein, Francesco Cilea, John Denver, et al.