Pavarotti and football (8): 25 years since the first Three Tenors concert

The 25th anniversary for the very first Three Tenors concert is on July 7, 2015. Can you believe it? It’s 25 years since the very first Three Tenors concert in Rome, July 7, 1990 (!!!).

And what a great concert it was! The match of the three operatic giants, the tenors Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo and José Carreras, was a match made for the opera history books. Read more about the historic concert here.

To mark the 25th anniversary Decca has just issued a special 25th anniversary edition of the concert containing the complete concert on CD and DVD. Included on the DVD is also a documentary about the concert entitled “The Impossible Dream” which contains behind-the-scenes footage, rehearsals and interviews.

In order to mark this historic concert Decca has also just reissued the concert on LP (!!!). The arrival of this very special 25h anniversary LP edition will bring back this concert to vinyl for the first time since its original release in 1990!

It’s time to revisit this historic concert one more time! Let The Three Tenors sing! 🙂

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This post was first published 06-07-2015. Last revised 06-07-2015.

Are you ready for a wonderful Pavarotti summer?

Summer is upon us once more! I just have one little question to you all: Are you ready for a wonderful Pavarotti summer? I’m sure you are! Here are three summer related Pavarotti tunes for you to start off your fantastic Pavarotti summer!

First off is the Italian traditional song “Vieni sul mar'” (“Come to the sea”), followed by the aria “Cielo e mar” (“Sky and sea”) from the Ponchielli opera La Gioconda. We finish with the pop song “Tu e il tuo mare” (“You and your sea”) from his last studio album “Ti Adoro”.

As you can see, we’re all off to the sea! Hope you’ll have a wonderful summer, at the sea or elsewhere! Wherever you are, take some Pavarotti tunes with you! 🙂

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This post was first published 29-06-2015. Last revised 29-06-2015.

Pavarotti sings two beautiful arias from Mascagni’s L’amico Fritz

One of the lesser known operas that Pavarotti recorded was the beautiful Mascagni opera L’amico Fritz. Pavarotti never sang this opera on stage but he recorded it in 1968.

On this recording Pavarotti sang the role of Fritz opposite Mirella Freni who sang the role of Suzel. Gianandrea Gavazzeni conducted the Chorus & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

This very beautiful recording  was issued several times by EMI and EMI Classics. Today this recording is available on Warner Classics. A must-have for Pavarotti fans! 🙂

The most famous piece from this opera is the Cherry duet which Pavarotti also performed on stage and recorded on several occasions.

I’ll come back to the Cherry duet in another post. Let’s instead focus on the two beautiful arias by Fritz in this opera.

The two arias are “Tutto ho tentato” (act II) and “Ed anchè Beppe amò” (act III). The last aria is also known as “O amore, o bella luce del core” when the first minute of the aria is cut. Both versions appear on various EMI Classics compilations.

Now it’s time to listen to Pavarotti singing these two beautiful arias from the Mascagni opera L’amico Fritz from the 1968 recording. Enjoy!

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This post was first published 27-05-2015. Last revised 27-05-2015.

Pavarotti arias A-Z: W, X, Y and Z for “We have reached the end …”

We have reached the end of my series of posts with Pavarotti arias A-Z. This is the last post in this series, so let’s go!

I haven’t found any Pavarotti arias that starts with any of the last four letters in the alphabet. The letters W, X and Y are not part of the Italian alphabet, so that might explain a lot.

After postponing my post with one day I decided I should anyway go out with a bang! So, today is the letters W, X, Y and Z for “We have reached the end of the alphabet, but here is one more great Pavarotti aria!”.

The aria that I have chosen to end this series with is “Vedrommi intorno” which is a wonderful aria from the Mozart opera Idomeneo. This one is also one of my favourite Pavarotti opera arias!

The video is taken from a complete performance of the opera at The Metropolitan Opera conducted by James Levine. The complete performance is available on Deutsche Grammophon DVD.

Thank you all for responding so positive to this blog series! 🙂

Look out for more blog post about Pavarotti and much more! 🙂

This post was first published 13-05-2015. Last revised 13-05-2015.

Pavarotti arias A-Z: V for “Vesti la giubba”

We are very soon reaching the end of my series of posts with Pavarotti arias A-Z, so let’s go!

Today is the letter V for “Vesti la giubba” which is a wonderful aria from the Leoncavallo opera Pagliacci. The recitative that precedes this famous aria is entitled “Recitar!”.

The video is taken from a complete performance of the opera at The Metropolitan Opera conducted by James Levine. The complete performance is available on Deutsche Grammophon DVD.

Pavarotti sings so moving in this video! 🙂

Guess what! Tomorrow is the last post in this series of Pavarotti arias A-Z! 🙂

This post was first published 11-05-2015. Last revised 11-05-2015.

Pavarotti arias A-Z: U for “Una furtiva lagrima”

My series of posts with Pavarotti arias A-Z continues. We are very soon reaching the end of the alphabet, so let’s go!

Today is the letter U for “Una furtiva lagrima” which is a wonderful aria from the Donizetti opera L’elisir d’amore.

This recording is taken from a live concert in Buenos Aires in 1991.

Guess what! Look out for a new aria tomorrow!

This post was first published 10-05-2015. Last revised 10-05-2015.

Pavarotti arias A-Z: T for “Tra voi, belle, brune e bionde”

My series of posts with Pavarotti arias A-Z continues. Very soon this fantastic journey is over, so let’s go!

Today is the letter T for “Tra voi, belle, brune e bionde” which is a wonderful little aria from the Puccini opera Manon Lescaut.

This recording is taken from a live concert performance in London’s Hyde Park on 30th July 1991. The whole concert is available on Decca DVD.

Guess what! Look out for a new aria tomorrow!

This post was first published 09-05-2015. Last revised 09-05-2015.

Pavarotti arias A-Z: S for “Se quel guerrier io fossi! … Celeste Aida”

My series of posts with Pavarotti arias A-Z continues. Let’s go!

Today is the letter S for “Se quel guerrier io fossi! … Celeste Aida” from the Verdi opera Aida. This is in fact a two for one giveaway: “Se quel guerrier io fossi!” is the recitative that precedes the more famous aria “Celeste Aida”.

Listen to this fantastic performance from the Metropolitan Opera in 1986. Glorious singing by Pavarotti followed by ecstatic applause from the audience.

Guess what! Look out for a new aria tomorrow!

This post was first published 08-05-2015. Last revised 08-05-2015.

Pavarotti arias A-Z: R for “Recondita armonia”

My series of posts with Pavarotti arias A-Z continues. Let’s go!

Today is the letter R for “Recondita armonia” which is a wonderful aria from the Puccini opera Tosca.

Listen to performance from Italian TV. I guess it’s from the 1980’s.

Guess what! Look out for a new aria tomorrow!

This post was first published 07-05-2015. Last revised 07-05-2015.

Pavarotti arias A-Z: Q for “Questa o quella”

My series of posts with Pavarotti arias A-Z continues. Let’s go!

Today is the letter Q for “Questa o quella” which is a wonderful aria from the Verdi opera Rigoletto.

Listen to a live performance of this aria from the Rome Opera conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini in Rome in 1966. A complete recording of this opera performance can be found on several unofficial CD releases.

Guess what! Look out for a new aria tomorrow!

This post was first published 06-05-2015. Last revised 06-05-2015.