MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Opera Gala

'This is an opera gala with a difference. Instead of cherry-picking the usual highlights, it gives us arias and duets in the context of complete scenes, which affords the added novelty of the stars taking on supporting roles they would never usually sing. It is not often one hears a Domingo or a Hampson playing the part of 'an official' or 'an Indian warrior', but that is what happens here, when Domingo sings the tiny role of Bruno to Hampson's Riccardo in I Puritani and Hampson returns the compliment by playing Ottumbo to Domingo's Zamoro in Alzira. They are two of the best tracks on the disc. Hampson sings with a natural fluency and beauty of tone in the Bellini, which might be a profitable area of the repertoire for him to investigate further. Domingo is magnificently authoritative in the Verdi, delivering aria and both verses of the cabaletta with splendid breadth and ringing tone. I doubt this music has ever been sung better.
Anybody wanting to investigate operas just off the beaten track in this celebrated company should find it an attractive programme. Of the three singers, Domingo gets the most to do. As well as his Alzira solo, he has the two arias from Thomas's Mignon, which he sings with a seamless vocal line, though the music really asks for a lighter touch (the young Di Stefano, among Italianate tenors, captured the mood better). Domingo also takes part in both duets from Les pecheurs de perles, blending sumptuously with Hampson in the favourite "Au fond du temple saint" and partnering a delicate Ruth Ann Swenson in the love duet, both extracts again nicely set in context. Hampson has a second solo aria in "Sois immobile" from Guillaume Tell, properly sung in French and with suave Gallic style, and then proves a characterful Malatesta to Swenson's lively Norina in the Don Pasquale duet. Here, as elsewhere, Eugene Kohn accompanies with a generalized feel for the theatre. Finally, the three singers come together for a brisk rendition of the "Zitti, zitti" trio from Il barbiere di Siviglia - doubtless before they scamper off to their next recording sessions around the world. ' Gramophone