Roberto Alagna - what went wrong?

[Tsaraslondon]

Having listened over the past couple of days to Alagna in both Werther and La Rondine, I am tempted to ask what happened to this marvellous tenor, who, it seems to me, never really reached his true potential.

I first saw him back in the early 1990s as Romeo in Gounod's opera with Leontina Vaduva, a girlishly believable Juliet (one might equally ask what happened to her), and I clearly remember the excitement he caused. Here was a young tenor with a glorious voice, who was also a thinking actor. He looked good too, as can be seen on the DVD made from this Covent Garden production. His performance created quite as much a stir as Angela Gheorghiu's Violetta, a couple of seasons later, but, whereas she became quite a star, his popularity seems now very much on the wane. Admittedly he has hardly been helped by the recent shenanigans at La Scala, Milan, but then some of Gheorghiu's prima donna antics hardly seem to have affected her.

I have three complete opera sets with him (Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, Massenet's Werther and Puccini's La Rondine), all of which could lay claim to be the best sets around. His Romeo, though not as beautifully and poetically sung as on the DVD from Covent Garden, the voice having matured a touch since then, surpasses all other recorded versions. Corelli, as usual, hopelessly out of depth in French, gives us something more akin to Turiddu; Kraus sings stylishly as ever, but, by this time, the voice has dried out condsierably and he can sometimes sound more like an elderly roue; Domingo's performance is generalised and, again, he also sounds too old. Only Bjoerling (in a live performance from the Met back in the 1940s) surpasses Alagna for sheer poetry and beauty. The rest of the recording is pretty good too. Gheorghiu, it is true, can sound a little too sophisticated for Juliette (I prefer Vaduva on the DVD), but her singing is admirably secure, and she is able to capture both the high spirits of her waltz song and the high powered dramatic expression of her aria in Act IV.

When it comes to Werther, I would again place Alagna's performance above all others (excepting maybe Thill, the only other complete performance from a French singer). Here, surely, is the Romantic young man of Massenet's and Goethe's dreamings. He is such a resourceful singer, grading his performance quite carefully. The desperate, though almost restrained Un autre est son epoux at the end of Act 1, leads us brilliantly into Act II, where Werther is doing a pretty good job at hiding his feelings, though, by some miracle, we, the audience, know that he is still passionately in love. By the last 2 Acts, all pretence is thrown aside and he is superb. Gedda, Kraus, Domingo, Vargas and Carreras all have something to offer (indeed I don't think Werther has ever had a bad recording, though Obrasztsova comes close to ruining Domingo's), but, for me, Alagna gives us the most telling and psychologically probing performance of the role, sung with glorious tone in impeccable French. What more could one ask? Well, Gheorghiu is still fine, and never less than inside the role of Charlotte, but it lies a little too low for her. De Los Angeles, also a soprano, encompasses its demands more easily as do Von Stade and Troyanos, though Troyanos has a tendency to play the grande dame from time to time.

The recording of La Rondine made quite a splash at the time it was released, and has certainly stood up well. This time singing in Italian, the role of Ruggero suits Alagna to perfection, and the wonderful poetry of his French singing stays in tact, though, in this case, I'd be hard pushed to say whether I prefer Alagna or Domingo in the role. All the recorded Magdas are lovely (Moffo, Te Kanawa, Gheorghiu), though here I'd be tempted to give Gheorghiu (just) the palm, notwithstanding a few moments of suspect intonation. What is not in doubt is the overall superiority of the EMI production, and Pappano's conducting.

Going back to my original question, most people will no doubt state that Alagna started taking up unsuitable roles (Manrico, Radames, even Otello in the offing I believe), but then so did both Di Stefano and Carreras, and though it may have damaged their voices, it didn't really damage their careers. Did he just come along too soon? After all, many people now see Villazon as plugging the gap left by Domingo. Or perhaps he was too much of the thinking man's tenor, and not enough the crowd pleaser. For myself, I think he'd have been better to stick to a repertoire closer to that of Alfredo Kraus. Someone once told me that Kraus was one of the highest paid tenors in the business, because, although he had a repertoire of only a few roles, he sang those roles better than anyone else. I fear now that it is too late for Alagna to get back on track.

[knight66]

It is a very interesting post. I have not followed his career assiduously. I agree that the grace has declined. Those initial roles seemed to really suit him. It is difficult to tell whether perhaps he has coarsened due to the roles, the amount he is singing, or perhaps over projection. I do think he has been taking on the wrong roles.

Frankly I was not aware his career was going badly, La Scala aside, but on disc, he gives me less pleasure.

How do you think his Cavaradossi and Manrico stand up?

Mike

[Tsaraslondon]

Frankly I was not aware his career was going badly, La Scala aside, but on disc, he gives me less pleasure.

How do you think his Cavaradossi and Manrico stand up?

Mike

I'm not sure if "going badly" is the right term, but, quite aside from the La Scala incident, he doesn't seem to have had many good reviews for a while, and friends of mine who heard him sing live recently said it sounded like a voice in trouble. I do think it's a great shame as he showed such huge promise.

I haven't heard his Cavaradossi or Manrico complete, only isolated bits. I can't quite put my finger on it as to why, but they just didn't sound quite right, though what I heard of his Cavaradossi was certainly better than his Manrico, a role I'd have expected to be too heavy for him anyway. Of course it was also too heavy for Di Stefano, but he somehow convinces nonetheless.

I certainly prefer Alagna in French music and I do wish he'd sung more of that repertoire, maybe unearthing a few rarities along the way. I have his all Berlioz recital, which is a real treat. This is really difficult music, but whether in the arias for Aeneas, Iopas, Faust or Cellini, he sounds so much more at home in the music. Certainly there is a flicker of strain from time to time (in such a wide range of arias, how could there not be?), but time and again he shows himself to be such an intelligent and musical singer.

[Lilas Pastia]

I think Monsieur Alagna has taken himself too much seriously for his own good, and so have most opera house managers around the world. As the French saying goes, "Qui trop embrasse, mal étreint" (He who grasps at too much loses everything). His voice has hardened, his interest and enthusiasm waned, and his ego inflated.

Compare the above to Senor Villazon and his much lower, heftier voice, and it's obvious Alagna should never have attempted the Big Roles (Manrico was a folly, and Radames was his undoing). Gounod's Faust and Roméo were the biggest challenges his kind of voice should have been subjected to.

Sic transit gloria mundi...

BTW, whatever happened to Kathleen Battle?

[Renfield]

BTW, whatever happened to Kathleen Battle?

Last I heard, she was embarrassing herself with shouting for the conductor to "slow down" over a live microphone, as Gramophone mentioned in the news section last month or so.

[Hector]

I, too, think he got to big for his voice.

Back to those French roles Robert, I think, and leave the Italians to the...Italians?

[Lilas Pastia]

The best italian tenors of the past 25 years are spanish, mexican or latino-american !

[Tsaraslondon]

The best italian tenors of the past 25 years are spanish, mexican or latino-american !

Mind you, there is always Pavarotti, though, admittedly, his best work was  behind him by the mid 1980s.

[Lilas Pastia]

Exactly .

By 1982 he, too, had started his 'omnivorous phase' (in all senses !!) and the very great qualities of his singing were to become generalized. The voice was still there - at least for a few more years - but the superstar had eaten up the supertenor.

[Maciek]

By 1982 he, too, had started his 'omnivorous phase' (in all senses !!) and the very great qualities of his singing were to become generalized. The voice was still there - at least for a few more years - but the superstar had eaten up the supertenor.

This thread is going odd......

[Lilas Pastia]

I like to cook up phrases that are palatable and easily digestible. 

[Hector]

Exactly .

By 1982 he, too, had started his 'omnivorous phase' (in all senses !!) and the very great qualities of his singing were to become generalized. The voice was still there - at least for a few more years - but the superstar had eaten up the supertenor.

Indeed, and much else, besides

[Sarastro]

I think Monsieur Alagna has taken himself too much seriously for his own good, and so have most opera house managers around the world.

I agree. His voice now or maybe ever is not for some roles he sings. But it's money, theaters demand him. He is a star. I mean now Art is an industry, industry of entertainment, some kind of a conveyor - the stage productions are moving from city to city (and there are only few repertoire theaters as Met, La Scala...), singers try to learn as fast as possible, to get the diploma, then, if they are smart and study good, become demanded singers and travel around the world, singing everywhere, every second day, finish singing here - move there...they fly, sing a set of performances written in the contract, get their money and the circle starts over. But it kills the Art, I think. They even have no time to think about the role...think deep inside, and that's how we get singing machines who just sing without any meaning. Maybe I am too pessimistic, there is some thoughtful ones...But the mass production machine is working and everybody wants to make money on young and fresh good-looking boys and girls in opera. And with that way singers loose their voices.