Joseph Calleja - Verdi (2018) CD Rip

Of the large crop of tenors reaching their prime years in the late 2010s, Malta's Joseph Calleja has shown strong signs of breaking out from the pack, and this Verdi recital can only help him. Calleja combines a rich, smooth middle range with a bright, edgy top in which he can convincingly explode in emotion. Album buyers have been primed for a new recital release from Calleja and would probably have been perfectly satisfied with an album covering Verdi's greatest hits. They get something better: a program that shows how the tenor has thought about Verdi's career and his place in it, and whets the appetite for seeing and hearing him perform these roles in person. After Se quel guerrier from Act One of Aida, which introduces the voice unaccompanied, you'll hear pairs of pieces from Il Trovatore and La forza del destino, with a single piece from Don Carlo and finally four excerpts from Otello, all arranged to fit together as if in a natural succession of scenes and each exposing a new facet of Calleja's voice. At the risk of skipping to the best part, sample the final Niun mi tema from Otello, where Calleja definitively shows himself to be more than just a pretty voice. With sensitive support from the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana under Ramón Tébar, this is a standout collection. -- James Manheim