The Sunday Times

CD of the Week, October 1998

'A thrilling introduction to the lost age of tenorial bel canto.'

Gramophone

'"Only three?" Rossini might have remarked. During the Naples years (1815-22) which this recital so thrillingly celebrates, Rossini had four, possibly five, world-class tenors at his disposal. Still, it is a good marketing ploy, with Opera Rara's three tenors turning in bravura performances in repertoire which the three tenors have only occasionally flirted with. What made Rossini's writing for tenor so compelling was the astute mix of extreme virtuosity, honeyed cantabile and a declamatory thrust, inspired, in part, by the grand and powerful subjects he often chose to treat in his Naples years. What the Opera Rara programme does is concentrate the impression: reveal the process in microcosm.

It says much for Rossini's guile, and the guile of the programming, that one comes away from the recital, not bored or sated, but thrilled and satisfied. Amusingly, there is no actual trio for tenors until the last track, the astonishingly beautiful scene in Armida where Carlo and Ubaldo hold the adamantine shield up to Rinaldo's gaze and, in so doing, confront him with an image of his own baseness. Rossini's leading heroic tenor was Andrea Nozzari. Bruce Ford sings the Nozzari roles here, with Paul Austin Kelly and William Matteuzzi taking turn and turn about with the more purely brilliant roles (Uberto, Rodrigo, Ricciardo) Rossini wrote for the celebrated tenore contraltino in the Naples company, Giovanni David. All three acquit themselves superbly. To have Nelly Miricioiu on hand to sing Elena and Desdemona is an added bonus. At times, she sounds touchingly and thrillingly like the young C*****. (I resort to asterisks since history warns that this particular comparison is usually jinxed.)

Did I say melodramatic? Ah yes, but - as these performances reveal - so very, very thrilling.'