Francisco Araiza - Rigoletto - act II cabaletta - 1988

[reinadegrillos]

Magnífico Araiza!!!

[alainjoelg]

Araiza a une voix magnifique , un timbre riche, du punch.

[90lysander]

Araiza doesn't sound out of place in this rep the way Florez does, but that is probably more due to tone color than anything else ... and really, his voice started sounding SO harsh and brittle after he started singing these sort of roles, compared to his HEAVENLY early renditions of Mozart and Rossini.

Like many leggieros, he wanted to play with the big boys ... and he really didn't need to. He was already a winner in my book.

[ivancin25]

DIO EL RE EN VIVO SU REGISTRO ES DE ROSINNI PERO SU CANTO EN UN POCO A LO ALEMAN no tan punta

[mediterraneo1000]

aqui es donde juan diego florez debe aprender a cantar de fco. araiza.

[BeniaminoGigli1985]

Braaaaavo! Maeeeeeestro!!!!!!

[LeTraveler09]

THE D THE D THE D!! Woohoo Maestro Araiza!!

[Englishtenor2]

Not entirely sure about calling the Duke much heavier than a lot of Mozart and Rossini - only a little bit. That's why Juan Diego Florez has done it, but yes, Araiza is marvellous here...

[Pawelp]

More than a little bit and that's why Florez doesn't sound totally in place. Il duke is for a lyric tenor but not without a bit of "oomph". Not a leggiero role by far.

[Bjoerrelli]

I think it requires a voice with more acuti then the Mozart rep. Mario Filippeschi was a great duke on the heavier side and he wouldn´t be a well suited Tamino,Don Ottavio or Ferrando

[Marinausbcn]

Maestro Araiza, sublime!

[araizaamore]

Francisco is amazing! What a D! ( I own this production and he does sing the high D). Perfect! Araiza is absolutely divine! He is:  THE DUKE

[semiramide1945]

I don't know if it's true- I would have to see proof, but I've heard it was Carreras

[omvelde]

Haha! Good one! ;)

[aguacun]

I can listen the high D. It was never problem for Mr. Araiza... Very good.

[mjmacmtenor]

He is very good. As a Rossini and Mozart tenor (how he started)who later moved to fuller spinto roled, I would expect him to be excellent in this. Did he do the high D? Hard to hear. Unfortunately, the chorus is dreadful and the conductor and orchestra rush the stretta section (no one is together at the end).

[Agorante]

Actually - this is almost unbelieveable - he started voice study as a bass-baritone. It is true that he made his original international spash as a Mozart-Rossini tenor. Many self proclaimed experts consider his move to the heavier repertoire to have caused his sudden decline. Maybe.

[babajaga39]

it is just a fake-legend and was spread by a concurrent tenor...

[Agorante]

I'm not sure which part you believe is a fake legend. He himself claimed in his interview with Jerry Hines that he once was a bass-baritone.

Are you disputing the claim that heavier repertoire harmed him?

[babajaga39]

sorry, I wasn't clear: I know that as a little boy he sang as bass, and then he was trained as a bass-baritone, that is true. the second part about harming his voice is not true.

[Agorante]

Who was the concurrent tenor who spread this fake-legend? I can well believe you but I'm just curious.

When Ariaza first came on the international scene I was quite excited to hear him live. I wasn't disappointed. I told a tenor friend of mine but he wasn't interested in "little" tenors he was only interested in drammatic tenors. Ariaza already had my admiration I guess he wanted my friend's too.

[babajaga39]

I would like to know it: i talked a lot (through the net) with a close friend of him, who told me this, but didn't want to tell the actual name of the "foe"... But I heard a lot about talented tenors who didn't want to pay for the claque, and got the same fake-legends, rumours, or the other, a bit more famous ones killed their career because of the "struggle for the roles" and so on... so I can believe this "backbiting" too.

[corellilover]

no doubt about that!!

[LeTraveler09]

Awesome. Please post any more if you have any.

Thanks for posting it.