Aurora

Aurora: Since José Cura, who is very much Master of Ceremonies here, gives such prominence to Aurora, we may as well follow his lead and give credit where it is due. Ettore Panizza was an important operatic figure during the first half of the 20th century; as a composer he is almost unknown. Now Cura takes up a patriotic song which has caught his fancy in the opera Aurora (1907). It is a fairly attractive song and Cura sings it with fervour. Of the rest, the excerpts are just bits and pieces from Cura’s repertoire not yet on record. What they also have in common is the employment of a magnificently full-bodied heroic tenor voice, firm and even in production. Gramophone, John Steane

Aurora: Fans of the Argentinian tenor will welcome him in this return to the recording studio, in splendid voice, for a further operatic recital. He conducts as well as sings, which clearly works reasonably well in the studio. All the items are new to Cura's recorded repertoire, and they suit him very well. ... Cura delivers the Corsaro aria with powerful energy and the Luisa Miller "Quando le sere al placido' with a good sense of line and moving expression. The L'Africaine and Gioconda solos too go extremely well, they really suit the tenor's full-hearted vocal approach. Opera Now

Aurora: [Aurora] is a gratifyingly adventurous selection by Verdi. His is a phenomenal and distinctive voice that he can use to sensational effect... BBC Magazine

José Cura, Vocalist and Conductor, Aurora CD Release 2002.

Note: This is a machine-based translation. We offer it only a a general guide but it should not be considered definitive.

"Aurora," almost the second Anthem

La Nacion

12 March 2003

"A warrior eagle is high in the sky ... we would sing it for years before entering class. Much later I knew that I wanted to be a musician but that that song to the flag was actually an opera aria I only knew later But that one day, full of nostalgia, throat and heart knotted with pride, I would record it ... I knew that only now," José Cura says about the famous aria by Hector Panizza, “which, by the force of its patriotism, became the song that greets every rise and fall of the Argentine flag," as the composer also wrote.

Last September Cura sang "Aurora" at the close of the popular London festival "Proms” before an audience of fifty thousand people who gave him a standing ovation, and the day after this interview with LA NACION, he sang again, this time as the special guest and as the only musical number of the gala, at the opening of the Vienna Opera Ball, one of the most famous social events in Austria. In an interview for German television broadcast live from Vienna, in white shirt and tails and with striking decoration on his lapel (he wore the medal of the "Chevalier de l´ordre du cédre" with which the government of Lebanon distinguished him), José Cura referred to it as our second national anthem, a representation of endearing memories of school and childhood, for all Argentines.

"I was taking “Aurora” everywhere: Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Prague ... and in a way with all the pain of not singing or conducting again in Argentina,” commented the singer with a hint of melancholy. “I want to say that my last album is dedicated to my country, that our flag is on the cover and that the album is called "Aurora", because the most important thing I want to express is that I love Argentina. I want my people to know that, for the whole world and with great pride, José Cura is an Argentine tenor."

Note: This is a machine-based translation. We offer it only a a general guide but it should not be considered definitive.

Reviews of New Recordings

Eduardo Benarroch

AURORA - Italian opera arias - José Cura -

Sinfornia Varsovia - Conductor: José Cura.

AVIE AV 0010 - 60 "28"

This CD is dedicated to Argentina, and that is the reason for the title, Aurora, which reminds us of the song to the flag that is sung in all the schools before entering the classrooms early in the morning, in the cold courtyards and even in the rain.

The tessitura, as Cura points out, is ugly, low and high, falling in the passagio of the voice and it always falls badly whatever the note to which it is transposed.

Originally composed in Italian, this CD offers both version, and I must admit that the Italian version sounds much better. You can also appreciate the musical structure of the work. Aurora was an opera composed by Héctor Panizza for the inauguration of the Colón Theater in 1908 but few people know it since it is rarely performance despite having a really spectacular orchestration, more similar to Richard Strauss than to any other composer.

It is interesting to be able to listen to Cura in early Verdi in the recitative and aria of Corrado in Il corsaro, which suites him very well for his heroic timbre, no so much as Rodolfo in the Luisa Miller aria where the voice is more inflexible, less poetic.

But the Vasco da Gama aria from L'africana makes us want to hear him in the complete opera. Just like “Cielo e Mar” from La Gioconda. Here the Argentinean tenor reveals a supreme sensuality and excellent control of the vocal line. It is also possible to hear it in the orchestral prelude to the second act of Giordano’s Siberia, with very good sound and phrasing, followed by Vassali’s aria, very well sung with heroism.

Actually you have to respect Cura’s musicality; his accompaniment is more than just accompaniment--he makes the orchestra sound good in the cabaletta of Corsaro. And how interesting it would be to hear him conduct one of Verdi's early opera!

The CD is very well presented with beautiful color photos but unfortunately without the texts of the arias, except Aurora, which is complete.

As these arias have not been recorded by the Argentine tenor in any other recital, it is worth buying.

José Cura – Opera Arias

Opera

Richard Law

April 2003

This is a depressing disc from so gifted a singer. Cura has produced it himself and, apart from the Polish orchestra, there are signs of corner-cutting: no chorus, for instance, for the important choral interventions in Corrado’s Act I scene from Il corsaro, and a booklet that prints not the words sung but merely a few sentences by and about Panizza (welcome, to be sure) and some facts about the operas concerned that are easily found elsewhere. And Cura, though barely 40. Is developing some bad habits; they include a decided wobble here and there, a tendency to anticipate the beat, and a too strenuous approach overall. Occasionally, as in Il corsaro or in ‘Quando le sere al placido,’ he aims at lyrical restraint, but both pieces end in what Miss Violet Cork would have called bawlege and shouter. The most satisfying track is that from Siberia, Giordano’s hefty melodrama with a tenor part written for Zenatello.

Panizza’s tuneful and unfamiliar music from Aurora and an orchestral prelude from Siberia, conducted by Cura and rather well played, cheer one up a bit—but only a bit. Cura should give up production, hand it all over to a professional, and concentrate on refining his own art.