Ave Maria – Sacred Arias
Joseph Calleja (tenor)
Daniel Hope (violin)
Étienne Dupuis (baritone);
Malta Philharmonic Orchestra/Sergey Smbatyan
rec. 2022, Grandmaster Suite, Hilton, Malta
Sung texts with English translations enclosed
Decca 4853944 [61]
Following on his previous forays into the music of Verdi and Mantovani, Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja returns with a new album from Decca devoted to sacred arias. There is a wide variety of repertoire on this disc; most of it shows off the chiaroscuro colours of his beautiful Mediterranean voice to advantage.
I question the wisdom of some the musical choices made here. The first Ave Maria has been awkwardly adapted from Mascagni’s Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana. Right out of the gate I am left with the impression that his voice is too close-miked with added reverb for my comfort, although this becomes less noticeable with further listening. However, his voice is in sterling shape and he caps the performance with a beautiful half-voiced top A, and the piece ultimately works despite the relentlessly brisk tempo. The second questionable choice is another Ave Maria, this one taken from the Méditation from Massenet’s Thais; this piece simply doesn’t work for me at all because its mood of quiet reverie is lost in Calleja’s overly entreating interpretation, despite his lovely vocals.
On then to the Agnus Dei derived from the intermezzo of Bizet’s L’Arlésienne. This piece seems less a sacred work than a potboiler from a verismo opera and Calleja does not manage to make it sound the least bit spiritual. It is only when we arrive at Andrea Bocelli’s version of Ave Maria that finally a more spiritual mood settles in on this album. The song is quite a beautiful one and Calleja sings it far more assured vocal resources than Bocelli, or anyone else I’ve heard sing it. He also navigates a larger interpretive arc during the course of the song than Bocelli. Happily it is one of the best tracks on the disc.
Pietà Signore, attributed to Alessandro Stradella is a real gem and Calleja displays a beautifully maintained vocal line for it. On the other end of the spectrum are the two of Rossini’s sacred arias. I can’t help thinking that Rossini was playing a huge musical joke on the tenor when he composed the ridiculously bouncy Cujus Animam for his 1841 Stabat Mater. Here Calleja gives a less flashy performance than Luciano Pavarotti, which serves the music better. Here again, the way Calleja maintains the flow of the vocal line is virtually flawless. The Domine Deus from the Little Solemn Mass has much the same problem musically as the Cujus Animam. I can never get over the impression that I am on a musical carousel horse ride while listening to them.
There is no way imaginable the duet from Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles could ever masquerade as sacred or prayerful, and it leads to cynical thoughts about commercial tactics to push up sales. However, the duet itself is given a freshly lyrical reading that somehow seems to eschew the normal operatic treatment that it usually receives. There is no doubt that both Calleja and the suavely elegant Québec-born baritone Étienne Dupuis, are thoroughly up to the demands of this music. I find it one of the most refreshing recordings of this over-marketed piece that I have encountered in many-a- year.
The real treasure of this recital is the prayer from Wagner’s Rienzi. Calleja is venturing into Wagner territory this summer as he assumes the title role in Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival. It seems that a carefully planned acquaintance with some of the lighter Wagner heroes is the right direction for Calleja to be moving towards. In Rienzi’s Allmacht‘ ger Vater the tenor’s evocatively warm tone fits the flawed Roman anti-hero to a T. His interpretation captures the visionary fervor of Rienzi’s desperate plea in one of the most thrillingly sung modern versions I’ve come across. This impression is completely backed-up by the song from The Wesendonck Lieder. It seems that German music really suits Calleja at this point in his career.
The album concludes with several Christmas carols in arrangements that Douglas Gamley created for Luciano Pavarotti in the 1980’s. I can only add that in no way does Joseph Calleja take a back seat to his over-hyped predecessor. His manner is clearly more spiritual than Pavarotti’s and overall it seems to suit the music more comfortably. As a definite admirer of Mr Calleja, I am living in hope that Decca will bring out more from this gifted tenor. Perhaps an intimate album of Spanish romances with guitar accompaniment, or maybe even a disc of German romantic arias. Both would be an excellent choice of repertoire for the Maltese tenor with the golden throat.
Mike Parr
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Contents
Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945)
Cavalleria Rusticana Ave Maria (arranged from Intermezzo sinfonico)
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)
Ingemisco (from Requiem)
Jules Massenet (1842-1912)
Ave Maria, after the Méditation from Thaïs
Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
Agnus Dei TBottom of Form Intermezzo from L’Arlésienne
Andrea Bocelli (b.1958)
Ave Maria (with Daniel Hope)
Alesandro Stradella (1643-1682)
Aria di Chiesa, “Pietà Signore”
Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868)
Stabat Mater Cujus animam gementem
Petite messe solennelle, Domine Deus
Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
Au fond du temple saint (from Les Pêcheurs de Perles) (with Étienne Dupuis)
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Allmächt’ger Vater, blick herab! (from Rienzi)
Der Engel (No. 1 from Wesendonck-Lieder)
Franz Gruber (1787-1863)
Silent Night
Adolphe Adam (1803-1856)
O Holy Night
Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787)
Tu scendi dalle stelle
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Ave Maria, D839
