WHO NEEDS A NEW PAVAROTTI?

Vittorio Grigolo is auditioning for the world as the "next great tenor," and that means incessant comparisons with the last one. Anthony Tommasini has weighed in, with this from a review of Grigolo's star turn at the Met in the Franco Zefferelli "La Boheme," in Sunday's New York Times: "I had reservations about his voice, which has a bright cast and a narrow, sometimes tight, vibrato that will not be to all tastes... He started a little nervously, understandably, given all the talk of his being the successor to Pavarotti, which cannot help him. But once he warmed up, the natural ardor and the rich texture in his voice came through. His is essentially a lyric tenor, able to shape Puccini’s phrases with tenderness and lovely colorings."

Which cannot help him, indeed. Or us.

Let's stop doing a disservice to opera by comparing every rising tenor with Pavarotti. There wasn't a voice like Pavarotti's in the history of the world before Pavarotti; there's no reason to believe we'll see one soon afterward, if ever again. With Pavarotti as the standard, aren't we setting ourselves up for continual disappointment, predisposing such disappointment on new operagoers, and hurting the entire art form?

It's disheartening how praise like "lyric tenor" and "tenderness" and "lovely colorings" turns faint in shadow of the Pavarotti comparison. Not every role calls for what Pavarotti brought to the stage. And can we celebrate what Grigolo brings that Pavarotti couldn't? Such as...well, look at the guy.

If Grigolo is an heir, it's not to Pavarotti, not from what I've heard online and seen in the pictures. It's to the prior tradition of matinee-idol lyric tenors, like di Stefano, and Bjorling, and Corelli. Is anything wrong with that? Pavarotti had a voice like no other, and personality to burn. But Grigolo is no slouch on those scores, and let's face it - nothing sells better than sex appeal. Opera needs this guy more than a new Pavarotti. Sic 'em, Vittorio.

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Let's stop doing a disservice to opera by comparing every rising tenor with Pavarotti. There wasn't a voice like Pavarotti's in the history of the world before Pavarotti; there's no reason to believe we'll see one soon afterward, if ever again. With Pavarotti as the standard, aren't we setting ourselves up for continual disappointment, predisposing such disappointment on new operagoers, and hurting the entire art form?

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It's disheartening how praise like "lyric tenor" and "tenderness" and "lovely colorings" turns faint in shadow of the Pavarotti comparison. Not every role calls for what Pavarotti brought to the stage. And can we celebrate what Grigolo brings that Pavarotti couldn't? Such as...well, look at the guy.

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