From Amazon.com
Tenor Salvatore Licitra recently made headlines when he stepped in at the last moment for the, sad to say, probably finished
Luciano Pavarotti at the Metropolitan Opera's final
Toscas of the season. In fact, there's little Licitra could have done wrong under the circumstances, but he was a great success, and judging from his recent
Trovatore and this recital CD, he will be most welcome. The good-sized, somewhat dark-hued voice is appealing--and truly Italian--with an innate caressing quality and sense of line, even from top to bottom (he takes the very low option in the
Ballo Barcarolle, which most tenors take up an octave), and nice and free on top. He has a bit of trouble with Rodolfo's high C at the close of "Che gelida manina," but the aria as a whole is so sensitively sung that you feel bad about complaining. He has no trouble sustaining the high tessitura (or big sound and broad phrases) of Alvaro's aria from
Forza; he sounds sincerely regretful as the caddish Pinkerton, and might even be the Dick Johnson (in
Fanciulla) we've been looking for. This is an impressive debut recital, recommended for those who have been waiting for Italian opera to fall back into the hands of an Italian tenor.
--Robert Levine
