Marcelo Alvarez, Salvatore Licitra - Duetto (Italian Version) (2003)

If you loved the crossover hit song "Time to Say Goodbye" as performed by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman, or any of the Three Tenors discs, then you will love this disc also. Marcelo Álvarez and Salvatore Licitra are two of the new century's rising tenor stars, already being hyped as their generation's Domingo and Pavarotti. Here you have the two of them with the same lush orchestra and moving, passionate melodies as those other discs, including two new songs by Francesco Sartori, composer of "Time to Say Goodbye." The opera selections on the disc were re-arranged and given new lyrics to sound as much like the other songs as possible, and almost every piece has an electric bass-and-drum beat added to make them sound more like popular music. Álvarez's smooth voice contrasts nicely with Licitra's, which has more color to it. Although none of the songs stretches the singers dramatically, the tenors have no problem giving each piece effective emotion. To get a better picture of the talents of these two, look for Álvarez's Bel Canto or French Arias disc and Licitra's The Debut or complete Il Trovatore recordings.