I was, like all madrileño operagoers, extremely lucky during this summer. We closed the 2020-2021 Teatro Real season (the Covid-19 one) with a vocal feast like no other: a Tosca featuring biggest opera world stars in its three casts: Anna Netrebko, Sondra Radvanovsky, Luca Salsi, Jonas Kaufmann, Michael Fabiano, Maria Agresta, Joseph Calleja and Carlos Álvarez. I attended the last performance with Netrebko, the very last in the past season. And last night, the very first show of the following one: a recital by the Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez, with the piano accompaniment by Vincenzo Scalera. Flórez is one of the most feted divos in Madrid, a city which he visits almost every year, either in the Teatro Real or in the Auditorio Nacional, always for a concert (sadly, he doesn't sing here a complete opera since Les Pécheurs de Perles in 2013, in whose last performance I was present).
Thanks to the generosity of my beloved mother, who has invited me to this concert which I didn't expect to attend, I could have seen live this tenor after eight years. This review is dedicated to her.
This was the program of the concert:
Part One
Franz Schubert :"An Sylvia", "An die Musik", "Serenade"
Vincenzo Bellini: "Malinconia", "Per pietà, bell'idol mio", "La ricordanza"
Gioachino Rossini : Dans sibérienne, piece for piano n.12, de Péchés de vieillesse (piano solo), “Deh! Tu m’assisti amore”, from Il signor Bruschino and “La speranza più soave” from Semiramide.
Part Two
Paolo Tosti : "Sogno", "Seconda mattinata", "Aprile"
Gaetano Donizetti: "Inosservato penetrava... Angelo casto e bel", from Il Duca d'Alba
Vincenzo Bellini: Largo e tema in fa minora (piano solo)
Giuseppe Verdi: "Je veux encore entendre ta voix", from Jerusalem
Giacomo Puccini: “Torna ai felici dì”, from Le Villi
Encores
Salvatore Cardillo: Core 'ngrato
A medley of Chabuca Granda's songs : Fina Estampa, La Flor de la Canela y otras
Tomás Méndez: Cucurrucucú Paloma
Jules Massenet: "Pourquoi me réveiller" from Werther.
Giuseppe Verdi: "La Donna è mobile" from Rigoletto
Giacomo Puccini: "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot
Gaetano Donizetti: "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'Elisir d'Amore
Flórez is exploring new repertoires, and this eclectic concert is a proof. The program began with three beautiful Schubert lieder, being the beautiful An Sylvia the first one. He sang it well but he seemed a bit shy, as the voice started to warm up. Serenade, the third one, was more suitable to his graceful voice. The next three Bellini songs were better sung, specially in La Ricordanza, in which the rhythm and style were commanded. However, the real thing began with the selected arias from the repertoire he was born to sing, the one in he is still in the throne: Rossini. Two great arias were selected from the Pesaro genius' catalogue. The first one was “Deh! Tu m’assisti amore”, from Il signor Bruschino, in which he sang exquisitely, with his usual beautiful technique, style and the voice at its peak. Idreno's aria "La Speranza più soave" is an authentic firework aria, in which colorature becomes more and more difficult as the piece goes by. Flórez, a great interpreter of the role, has sung this scene with passion, commanding the coloratura, phrasing, the amazing legato he has in this piece, as well as the final high notes.
The second part started with three songs by the marvellous Francesco Paolo Tosti, sung in a romantic, sensitive way. Then, he returned to opera with the great aria "Angelo Casto e Bel" from Il duca d'Alba, which was sung with the voice plentiful of beautiful tones. Then, it came the air from Verdi's French opera Jérusalem, "Je veux encore entendre ta voix", which is the Italian version of the famed "La mia Letizia Infondere" from I Lombardi alla Prima crociata. Flórez's French diction and pronounciation is always seductive, charming, fitting into his aristocratic voice, giving a fresh air to his singing. In this case, all those qualities have found, however, some trouble, with a bit opened notes in words like "espoir", but anyway compensated with the spectacular final high notes, well projected into the hall. The official program finished with the aria "Torna ai felici di" from Puccini's Le Villi, beautifully song, even when the tessitura was a bit high for his voice.
In addition, he gave seven encores, so we could think of them as an actual third part of the program, for which he seemed to have reserved, being the best part of the concert alongside the Rossini arias. And as usual in his concerts, the first three songs were accompanied by himself playing the guitar. He started with a napolitan song, Core 'ngrato, which he sang tenderly. Then, he came with a medley of songs of Chabuca Granda, the noted Peruvian singer, from which "Fina Estampa" and the world-famed song "La Flor de la Canela" were recognisable. Flórez's graceful, elegant, delightful tenor voice is suitable for Peruvian waltzes, which he sang beautifully, and closing, as usual, with the amazing high note in "del puente a la alameda". After that, he told the audience that despite many people in his recitals could be fed up with the next song, he had to sing it. The concerned song was the famous Mexican song "Cucurrucucú Paloma", in which in the line "qué van a saber de amores" he made a beautfiful, but extended pianissimo, which even made the audience to laugh.
After the Guitar session, Scalera returned to the piano, and they gave the final four encores, all of them glorious. First, with "Pourquoi me réveiller" from Massenet's Werther, beautifully sung, in an elegiac tone, conveying the pathos of the scene, one of his signature roles in recent years. Then, came "La Donna è mobile", in which both artists kidded with the first notes, stating that they hadn't "still" decided which one to play. When the initial chords started, the audience applauded enthusiastically. He sings very well this aria, totally confident and joyous, even when the Duke of Mantua was one of the most controversial roles in his career. Then, came the famous "Nessun Dorma", which he has sung successfully in concerts, closing with round, nice, spectacular high notes which could be heard throughout the hall and earned him a long, strong ovation. The actual closing piece of the concert was one of his classics: Donizetti's "Una Furtiva Lagrima", singing his usual poetic, youthful and melancholic rendition, finishing it with a moving version of the final line "Si può morir d'amor".
Scalera showed his good work as accompanying pianist, being one of the most important after decades playing with the greatest ones. He started with an intimist, tender rendition of the three first Schubert lieder. In the operatic arias he displayed a brilliant, beautiful sound, with theatrical sense. In the "Il signor Bruschino" aria it was just shining, very rossinian. He also played a delightful rendition of the introduction to the aria from "Il Duca d'Alba", even Flórez appeared shortly before his entrance, leaving Scalera to set the audience into the dramatic athmosphere of the aria. In his solo pieces he was simply magnificent, with a vivid version of the Rossini's Siberian Dance and a melancholic, enchanting one in Bellini's Largo in F major.
With the tickets completely sold-out, a full Teatro Real (as long as the capacity limitation allows, something which could end soon if the Madrid government approves to permit theatres to open with 100% seat capacity) awarded Flórez with long, intense ovations. Many Peruvians were seen among the audience, eager to see their feted countryman. The Peruvian tenor has opened the new operatic season in Madrid with a beautiful concert, and showing he still can give us lots of great singing nights like this one.
My reviews are not professional and express only my opinions. As a non English native speaker I apologise for any mistake.
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