in pace requiescat
With the sorrowful departure of Luciano Pavarotti, it’s unfortunate that for many people, the ever lasting image of the legendary tenor will be of a bloated singer waving the white hankie whilst singing a duet with Josh Groban. This video will help: an excerpt (Ingemisco) from a 1967 recording of Verdi’s Requiem. Pavarotti is 31 here - well before his meteoric rise in the opera world and in peak form. It’s easy to understand why he took the world by storm. The rest of the cast (not seen in this clip) is crazy stellar - soprano Leontyne Price, mezzo-soprano Fiorenza Cossotto, bass Nikolai Ghiaurov, and the orchestra and chorus of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala - all led by the inimitable (and dramatic) conductor Herbert von Karajan. This recording (available on DVD) is absolutely chilling and a must have - and an apt tribute.
If you’re looking for some Pavarotti on the site, look no further than this, a great Boheme with Mirella Freni. Track 7 is the one you’ll recognize.
I am a major Josh Groban fan and have absolutely no awareness of Josh ever having sung with Pavarotti. When and where did this happen? And why would it be a bad thing? Pavarotti sang with quite a number of pop stars at no detriment to his or their careers. Why pick on Josh as if he is some kind of lower-class life-form? Josh does not claim to be an opera singer, nor does he wish to be. He’s a very, very good pop singer.
Meanwhile, I join with the rest of the world in mourning the passing of one of the world’s greatest voices.