Great Performers: Luciano Pavarotti
Say the words 'Italian tenor' and the chances are that an immediate response would be 'Luciano Pavarotti'. It was not only his larger-than-life personality, his sheer physical presence and his ability to cross boundaries that appealed to millions, it was the sweetness of his lyric tenor voice that simply connected with people. Pavarotti possessed a beautiful voice – seemingly effortless, with never a sense of strain – with a quality that makes it immediately recognisable, surely the sign of a divine gift and something that sets the greats apart from the very good.
Read more…Pavarotti's career stretched from 1961, when he sang his first Rodolfo in Puccini's La bohème, until 2004 when he bid farewell to the stage in Tosca at the Met (2005 saw a final tour that ended in Taiwan). That he maintained his vocal condition for so long is tribute to his training and the care with which he gradually expanded his repertoire. He was a lyric tenor; he knew it and he also knew his limitations. This was in large part thanks to the strong bond, both musical and personal, that he struck early on with Joan Sutherland and her husband, the pianist and conductor Richard Bonynge, a partnership vividly catalogued in a magnificent series of recordings.
Together they explored the bel canto repertoire (Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini) and along the way rescued some lost treasures like Bellini's 'Beatrice di Tenda'. And while Sutherland and Pavarotti moved into heavier roles in Verdi and Puccini, they both understood the scale of these challenges and carried it off – the Zubin Mehta-conducted recording for Decca of Puccini's 'Turandot' is a perfect example, while the Georg Solti-conducted Verdi 'Otello' (recorded act by act, in concert) found Pavarotti's innate style and musicality bringing surprising rewards.
Pavarotti was a natural singer – he was not an intellectual one like Plácido Domingo. Instead, he drew on emotional reserves within himself and sent them out on a burnished stream of glorious golden sound. Just listen to him in Puccini's 'Bohème' or 'Butterfly', both given the plushest of feather-bed support by Herbert von Karajan, and in the company of his friend since childhood, Mirella Freni, and you'll connect with the essence of Pavarotti's appeal. Here's a man singing in his native tongue (he seldom sang opera in any language other than Italian), not over-thinking it, but simply, and effortlessly, making that extraordinary connection between composer and audience that makes opera unique as an artform, and doing it with obvious sincerity.
Late in life, when his health made the demands of staged opera a major challenge, he launched a second career as a stadium performer – something heralded by the now legendary Three Tenors concert in Rome in 1990. Pavarotti became a household name and won the hearts of millions. In his prime he was a thrilling singer and thanks to a relationship with his record company, Decca, that embraced his entire career, his glorious voice will stay with us for ever.