Similarly, when Mimi reaches the climax of her signature aria the expansiveness of the line starting on “Ma quando vien lo sgelo” remains, for want of a better word, contained so that Alapont may allow his singers to make a case for the humane side of their characters. And quite successfully so: we are in the middle of a chamber opera when Alapont dials back on the orchestra’s doubling the emotional ecstasy of the protagonists in “O soave fanciulla.” Under his baton the orchestra of the Irish National Opera can do without the broadband sound for which Herbert von Karajan set the standards in 1972. Part of what distinguishes this “Bohème” from earlier recordings is its intimate character which, in keeping with a musicological rethinking of the Puccini scores, translates into conductor Sergio Alapont’s very measured, at times held-back approach to its most sentimentally charged passages. It was an elegant voice, well placed, with a warm timbre and baritonal depth, albeit none of the customary throaty mannerisms, which charmed me into believing that here was not only an under-recorded artist but maybe the standard bearer of a whole new generation of Italian opera.Īnd as far as the present recording goes, my hopes were not disappointed: for after a somewhat conventional start to Rodolfo’s amour fou in the first part of Act one, Vitulskis and an excellent cast of mostly Irish singers make for one of the most memorable opera experiences on CD in recent years.
In anticipation of Signum Classic’s new release of “La Bohème” I happily reminisced about Lithuanian tenor Merūnas Vitulskis’ performance of “Madama Butterfly” which I had the chance to witness at the Grand Théâtre in Luxembourg all the way back in 2015.
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