Pedro Lavirgen

EDITORIAL REVIEWS
Born in Bujalance in the province of Cordoba in 1930, Lavirgen made his debut as solo tenor in an emergency in 1959 in Saragozza in Marina by Arrieta and as first tenor in 1962 in Doña Francisquita by Vives. But it was certainly not the Zarzuela repertoire the most indicated to launch the young beginner on a large scale, and in order to specialize in opera he rightly decided to move to Milan in 1964. Results were not long in coming, in fact in that very same year Lavirgen was engaged by the Palacio de Bellas Artes of Mexico City to debut in Aida alongside Antonietta Stella and Robert Merrill and the year after in Turandot with Birgit Nilsson and Montserrat Caballé as Liù. This immediately allows us to understand the importance of his voice, able to measure up with partners of the highest order, allowing him to go to the major international theaters, such as the Liceu of Barcelona (1964, Carmen with Fiorenza Cossotto), the Staatsoper of Vienna (1966, Pagliacci with Wilma Lipp), the Metropolitan of New York (1968, Tosca with Lucine Amara), the Colon of Buenos Aires (1969, Trovatore and later I Vespri siciliani and Don Carlo, operas that gave him the opportunity of singing next to Leontyne Price, Martina Arroyo, Piero Cappuccilli, Nicolai Ghiarov), Covent Garden of London (1975, Carmen) besides many other theaters in Europe, North America and Latin America. In Italy his debut took place in 1966 at the Teatro Sociale of Como in Aida, with many appearances after that in Palermo, Naples, Genoa, Turin, Bari, etc. But it was in the 70s that his most important appointments took place, in 1974 at the Terme di Caracalla in Rome with Turandot, from 74 to 76 at the Arena in Verona, with Aida, Carmen, La Forza del destino, Turandot (operas in which he alternated with Corelli, Bergonzi and Domingo), in 1975 at the Comunale di Bologna (inauguration of the season with Carmen, next to Viorica Cortez), but especially in 76 at La Scala of Milan, first with Aida (with Monserrat Caballé and Grace Bumbry, conductor Thomas Schippers) and then with Turandot, in the edition of the operas fiftieth anniversary remembered for the clamorous forfait of Caballé, debuting in the role of the princess.After that his career took him mainly to other countries, in particular to the Liceu where he was to sing for twenty consecutive seasons (notable in 1982 an overwhelming Tabarro next to Giuseppe Taddei) in the principal roles of dramatic tenor, including Otello, taken on in Bregenz alternating with Placido Domingo. When we hear Lavirgens voice today we may legitimately ask ourselves how much more prestigious would his career have been in our own times, in which such a list of competing tenors is not even imaginable. In listening to this CD we are struck by the burnished and at the same time shining color of his timbre, this vocal strength accompanied by long breaths, the great passion of the interpreter, the sculptured character of his diction and his phrasing. In addition an indefatigable generosity of his incredible volume completes the picture of an authentic lirico spinto tenor, able to take on the heaviest repertoire without apparent problems. That was in fact the artistic destiny of Lavirgen, who was recognized by international theaters as a protagonist of solid reliability and greatly admired by the public, thus of vital importance.

Number of Discs: 1

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