Verissimo

Description

The new Sony Classical album "Verissimo" by Vittorio Grigòlo contains some of the most popular arias from Italian opera. Verissimo" - "very true" in Italian - is an allusion to "Verismo," the lyrical and passionate opera style of the late 19th century. Vittorio Grigòlo explains: "I wanted to call it Verissimo because this music is, in a certain way, absolutely true. The feelings go straight through you - they are not calculated. In verismo, everything happens as quickly as in real life." The program of arias reflects these fundamental human emotions. Among the most important examples are "Recitar! ... Vesti la giubba" (Leoncavallo: "Pagliacci") and "Nessun dorma" (Puccini: "Turandot"). The tenor roles in verismo are extremely varied characters, including a heartbroken clown (Canio in "Pagliacci"), a passionately idealistic poet (Andrea Chénier in Giordano's eponymous opera), an ardent lover and a courageous war hero (Maurizio in Cilea's "Adriana Lecouvreur"), as well as a bitter and disillusioned showman (Luigi in Puccini's "Il Tabarro"). Among the first tracks on the album are superb arias taken from two operas: "Dai campi, dai prati" from Boito's "Mefistofele" and the aria "Cielo e mar" from Ponchielli's "La Gioconda." The world-renowned tenor will be accompanied by Pier Giorgio Morandi and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra.