the one thing that has always put me off about alagna, is his vibrato.
it is too fast, too wide and it is everywhere in his singing. it is
remarkably consistent so, i assume it is a choice rather than something he
can't help. there are some notes where it almost appears to be a trill, in
that the pitch he is singing becomes uncertain. i have posted, in the file
section of the 'vocalist-temporary' archives, a spectral comparison of
carreras (top) and alagna (bottom). the excerpt is from 'che gelida manina'
from 'la boheme' and the text shown is 'cercar, che giova' (the samples are
from alagna's recital disc and the colin davis recording of the opera).
he seems to have a great voice and he seems to be a sensitive interpreter
but, i have never been able to get past that 'flutter' (listening to him
almost makes me feel as if i have the aural equivalent to a stigmatism).
mike
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