There is always a special pleasure in the blending of two fine voices, and composers have usually been happy to provide it during the course of their operas. Characters may join their voices in a unity of feeling, or in extreme disagreement, or in any one of the thousand shades in between. On this CD, opening with the universally beloved ‘Pearl Fishers Duet’ the accent is on duets between male operatic characters, singing together in contexts ranging from friendship to the sharing of mutual loss, from fierce enmity to the celebration of joint purpose.
GEORGES BIZET
C’est toi … Au fond du temple saint (Les Pêcheurs de perles)
GIACOMO PUCCINI
In un coupe? … O Mim, tu più non torni (La Bohème)
America for ever … Ier l’altro, il Consolato sen’ venne a visitor (Madama Butterfly)
VINCENZO BELLINI
Il rivar salvar tu dêi … Suoni la tromba (I puritani)
GIUSEPPE VERDI
Invano Alvaro … Le minaccie, I fieri accenti (La forza del destino)
Ascolta! le porte dell’asil s’apron già … Dio, che nell’alma infondere (Don Carlo)
Il Grande Inquisitor! … Son io dinanzi al Re? (Don Carlo)
Solenne in quest’ora (La forza del destino)
Egli delira … L’alto retaggio (Luisa Miller)
Oh! mostruosa colpa! … Sì, pel ciel marmoreo giuro! (Otello)
GAETANO DONIZETTI: Ardir! Ha forse il cielo … Ecco il magico liquore … Va, mortale fortunate (L’Elisir d’amore)
Ettore Bastianini
Carlo Bergonzi
Mario del Monaco
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau