Freddie De Tommaso: Il Tenore

"He starts with Tosca and proves a natural Puccinian, producing a steady stream of spun tone in 'Recondita armonia'…Better yet is Cavaradossi's 'E lucevan le stelle', as De Tommaso reveals himself as a master storyteller...it allows you to hear this young tenor for what he is - a thoroughbred." (BBC Music)

" Tenor voices tend to be the most individual of any voice type and De Tommaso is no exception. His sound is less gleaming than Pavarotti's, darker, with a lower centre of gravity, but he turns out a ringing climax to "Nessun dorma" from Puccini's Turandot and holds a well-schooled line through the two arias from Tosca." Financial Times

"His singing, in fact, is admirably secure here, cleanly projected and carefully focused in terms of dynamics...a fine album that confirms his emergence as a talent to be potentially reckoned with in years to come." Gramophone

"His is indeed a splendid instrument, genuinely Italianate in tone and texture...'Smoky', 'attractively veiled': it's a voice that instantly seizes the attention, and when rising with breadth and security to the climaxes of the Carmen Flower Song or 'Nessun dorma', it provides an authentic thrill...For me, in sum, De Tommaso is a front-rank tenor just out of the chrysalis." Opera

"Already drawing favourable comparisons with Caruso and Pavarotti, Tommaso's voice finds a place all its own somewhere in between those extremes of poetry and power. If there's a more reliable touchstone, it's surely the mahogany-dark, liquidly flowing expressiveness of Franco Corelli...On the strength of what's here, Decca's claim for Tommaso as Il Tenoré may well be justified." Limelight Five Stars