Arias (Jonathan Tetelman)

Arias
Bizet, Cilea, Flotow, Giordano, Mascagni, Massenet, Ponchielli, Puccini, Verdi & Zandonai
Jonathan Tetelman (tenor); Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria/Karel Mark Chichon
DG 486 2927   53:59 mins

After music college, Jonathan Tetelman abandoned singing and became a DJ. Feeling adrift without opera, he resumed and is now performing Verdi, Puccini and the verismo composers at major houses around the world. Puccini’s music, we are told, lies closest to his heart, though only one Puccini number features here – an opulent, laid-back ‘Addio fiorito asil’. Shrewdly, Tetelman has not stuffed his debut recital with well-sucked lollipops, but has displayed his versatility across a wider range of roles.

Some of the tracks are short and very effective appetite-whetters. His original training as a baritone is evident in gleaming mahogany-hued performances of numbers from La forza del destino, I due Foscari and Werther. Elsewhere, he is a strikingly sweet-voiced Don José and an up-tempo Manrico. But he shines brightest in the numbers from Adriana Lecouvreur, Andrea Chénier, Fedoraand La Gioconda – arias that demand passion on a plate. His is the sort of ardent, soul-baring voice you would want to be serenaded by when reclining on a chaise longue somewhere hot and beautiful. This disc is quite simply a sensation, and clubbing’s loss is most definitely opera’s gain.

Alexandra Wilson