Luciano Pavarotti
“I think a life in music is a life beautifully spent, and this is what I have devoted my life to.”
– Luciano Pavarotti
Great Interpreters: Luciano Pavarotti
Broadcast on Fine Music Radio on 14 February 2014.
First broadcast “live” on Fine Music Radio on 25 October 2007.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:58:27 — 108.5MB)
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During an illustrious career that spanned four decades, Luciano Pavarotti (1935 – 2007), who would later be dubbed “maestro of the masses,” became synonymous with the art of singing and an icon of popular culture. He had sung in all the world’s most prestigious opera houses and entertained thousands in stadium concerts around the globe. With his uniquely thrilling voice and exceptionally endearing personality, he touched an audience of millions world-wide through his televised performances, especially as part of the Three Tenors or the Pavarotti and Friends concerts.
Regarded as one of the most popular and successful classical artists in the history of the recording industry, Pavarotti sold more than 100 million recordings and collaborated with the finest artists of his time. His recorded legacy comprises more than 100 titles. His album, The Essential Pavarotti, became the first ever classical album to reach the number one spot in the UK Pop Charts, remaining there for an unprecedented 5 weeks, while the first Three Tenors album, remains the best-selling classical album of all time.
Apart from his voice, people responded to Pavarotti as a man: he was unique for his size, his openness, sincerity and his generosity. According to Bernard Holland, Pavarotti, through his expansive personality, childlike charm and generous figure, offered audiences a link to an art form with which many had only a glancing familiarity. Not since Enrico Caruso had an operatic tenor captured people’s imagination in that way.
According to The Times newspaper, “the magnificence of Pavarotti’s singing has secured an exhalted position for him among the finest tenors of the 20th century. No one did more in our time to bring a new public to opera.”
Podcast Track List
1) “Una furtiva lagrima” from L’elisir d’amore (Donizetti)
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
English Chamber Orchestra
Conductor: Richard Bonynge
Recorded: 1971
2) “Che gelida manina” from La bohème (Puccini)
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
Mirella Freni (soprano)
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Herbert von Karajan
Recorded: 1973
3) “Il padre adorato” from Idomeneo (Mozart)
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
Glyndebourne Festival Orchestra
Conductor: John Pritchard
Recorded: 1964
4) “E lucevan le stelle” from Tosca (Puccini)
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Conductor: Sir Edward Downes
Recorded: 1964
5) “Un di felice” and “Parigi, o cara” from La traviata (Verdi)
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
Joan Sutherland (soprano)
Recorded “live” in 1965 in Australia.
6) “Fra poco a me ricovero” from Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
Vienna Opera Orchestra
Conductor: Sir Edward Downes
Recorded: 1968
7) “Ingemisco” from Messa da Requiem (Verdi)
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala, Milan
Conductor: Herbert von Karajan
Recorded: 1967
8) “Ah! mes amies” from La fille du régiment (Donizetti)
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
Eric Garrett (baritone)
Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Conductor: Richard Bonynge
Recorded: 1968
9) “Ah! perchè non posso odiarti” from La sonnambula (Bellini)
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
National Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Richard Bonynge
Recorded: 1980
10) “Celeste Aida” from Aida (Verdi)
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
Orchestra of La Scala, Milan
Conductor: Lorin Maazel
Recorded: 1989
11) “Di quella pira” from Il trovatore (Verdi)
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
Joan Sutherland (soprano)
Graham Clark (bass)
National Philharmonic Orchestra
London Opera Chorus
Conductor: Richard Bonynge
Recorded: 1976
12) “Oh muto asil” from Guglielmo Tell (Rossini)
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
National Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Riccardo Chailly
Recorded: 1979
13) “La donna è mobile” from Rigoletto (Verdi)
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
Placido Domingo (tenor)
José Carreras (tenor)
Orchestra de Paris
Conductor: James Levine
Recorded “live” in 1998 in Paris.
14) “Ó sole mio” (Di Capua/Capurro)
Luciano Pavarotti & Bryan Adams
Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna
Conductor: Leone Magiera
Recorded: 1994 (recorded live at the Parco Novi Sad, Modena)
15) “Vesti la giubba” from Pagliacci (Leoncavallo)
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
National Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Giuseppe Patané
Recorded: 1978
16) “Recondita armonia” from Tosca (Puccini)
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
National Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Nicola Rescigno
Recorded: 1979
17) “Nessun dorma!” from Turandot (Puccini)
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
The John Alldis Choir
Wandsworth School Boys’ Choir
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Zubin Mehta
Recorded: 1973
Videos
“Nessun dorma!” from Turandot (Puccini)
Luciano Pavarotti (tenor)
New York Philharmonic
Conductor: Zubin Mehta
Recorded: “live” in Central Park, New York City (1993)