A
fistful of tenors: Who will be the next ‘big three’? As the Argentinian
singer José Cura returns to Ireland for the third time, Arminta Wallace
finds out who’s making the most noise in the international tenor stakes.
(excerpts)
Saturday
night at the Bastille Opera in Paris, and it’s show time. Inside the
concrete foyer the middle classes mill about, programmes in hand;
outside, Japanese tourists wearing optimistic smiles and hand-written
“Cherche Billets” signs brave the sharp air of late maximum chic, and
the place is packed to the doors. For a visiting Paddy, the excitement
is palpable-on the opera thermometer, a new production of Carmen
at one of Europe’s major opera houses has to rate somewhere between
“overheated” and “feverish”.
The moment the curtain
rises, however, it becomes apparent that this production is never going
to make it into the annals of theatre history. We peer in dismay as
interminable chorus lines dressed in 40 shades of brown repeatedly skip
back and forth across a dimly-lit stage. We fidget discreetly to keep
ourselves awake, and are just beginning to long for a few mantillas and
a red flounce or two when, mid-way through the second act, and miracle
occurs. Carmen’s lover Don Jose, sung by the Argentinian tenor José
Cura, has taken center stage to sing La Fleur Que Tu M’avais Jetee
– which, thanks to the seamless beauty of its melody and its
extraordinary pianissimo finish, has become a showpiece aria. The moment
he begins to sing, a profound silence settles on the audience. All
fidgeting ceases. By the time he reaches the final, anguished “je t’aime”,
Carmen’s is probably the only dry eye in the house. It’s a miracle, all
right – the miracle of a top class tenor in action.
A beautiful, effortlessly
powerful voice; a lithe, panther-like grace on stage; a commitment to
the part so total that when we go backstage to congratulate him on his
performance, Cura -- though he is, as always, the epitome of hospitality
and charm –- appears drained to the point of exhaustion. This is what
it’s like at the top of the opera ladder. The rewards are great: so are
the pitfalls. For every tenor who makes it to the top rung, dozens get
stuck on the lower reaches, or fall off altogether.
But has Cura made it to
the very top? And if so, is he alone there, of is there a plethora of
pretenders to the tenor crown? Over the next few years, will we see the
emergence of “a new three tenors” to replace the unholy trinity of
Domingo, Carreras and Pavarotti, mostly retired from active service
after long and stunningly successful careers – or is the whole idea just
an outdated marketing notion which will be quietly allowed to drop by a
new generation of intelligent, clued-in singers? Neil Dalrymple, and
agent with the London-based Music International, has no hesitation in
placing José Cura in the first rank of today’s tenors, along with the
Sicilian-born Roberto Alagna and new boy on the block Marcelo Alvarez.
Below those three, he says, there’s a major jump downwards to the next
level, where he picks out the Americans Jerry Hadley and Richard Leech,
a Canadian helden-tenor by the name of Richard Margison, and the
Hispanic bel canto trio of Raman Vargas, Luis Lima and Tito Beltran.
[…]
The Latin American
countries are also producing beautiful, well-trained voices. Cesar
Hernandez, from Puerto Rico, looks a bit like Domingo and has that sort
of sound, and Octavio Arevalo, a young Mexican who just sang Nemorino
for us, will probably be singing at the Met next season.” Another
company which has always prided itself on nurturing young voices is
Welsh National opera. Isabel Murphy, director of opera planning at WNO,
says her top three tenors would be the British tenor Ian Bostridge,
Roberto Alagna and the Argentinian Marcelo Alvarez, who recorded his
debut CD, Bel Canto, with WNO last year. “There are some very
interesting young British tenors, too – people like Paul Charles Clarke
who also sings at the Met and around Europe, or the Welsh singer Gwyn
Hughes Jones. Another exciting British tenor to come on the scene is
John Daszak, who is singing Peter Grimes in our new production, and has
also been booked to do the role at La Scala in the year 2000.” Such is
the perspective from the opera house. But what about when you walk into
a record shop in search of tenors on disc? Alan Blyth, a specialist
opera reviewer with Gramophone magazine, says José Cura would be his
number one, followed by Roberto Alagna and Marcelo Alvarez.
“Cura is a very good
Samson, as good as we’ve had for many years, and the performances on his
Puccini Arias disc were very fine...”
[Jonathan Peter] Kenny is
himself a tenor buff, with a considerable collection of historical
recordings and a soft spot for Pavarotti. “He really is wonderful. Of
course he’s such a megastar, he can’t really come on in an opera without
playing the part of Pavarotti – But he’s still a great singer.
“I first went to see José
Cura in Stiffelio at Covent Garden. It was fantastic. I’d never heard of
him, but he reminded me at once of Giacomo Lauri-Volpi – it was the
vibrato, I think, and also the baritonal sound which suddenly surprises
you by being able to surge upwards. I like his singing very much – I
think it’s very honest and open and from the heart. Even from his discs
he comes across as a very sincere and truthful performer.”
“There are far more
openings for tenors that for any other voice in the profession,” says
Kenny. “There are fewer tenors around, and so there are lots of great
roles. But it’s a dangerous profession, being a tenor. You have to sing
in big theatres, before huge audiences, you have to make a big should
and project your voice all the time. You’ve got to produce the top
notes. The money notes, they call them. But you’ve also got to be
careful because if you spend all your money notes at the beginning of
you career . . ."
It’s a sentence which
hardly bears finishing.
