In this collection, Flórez highlights the operatic and song repertoire that showcases his strengths -- a pure, light, but substantial instrument with a ringing top, a velvety legato, technical security, and an absolute grasp of the idiomatic requirements of the music. His performance should delight fans of old-fashioned bel canto singing. He includes enough rarities to keep the disc from being just another greatest-hits-for-lyric-tenor album: the tango-inflected "Amapola," an Argentinean song accompanied by a folk ensemble, the quintessentially Mexican/Spanish song "Granada," and selections from seldom-performed operas like Rossini's Otello, Verdi's Un Giorno di Regno, and Donizetti's Rita. He dazzles in the traditional selections; "La donna é mobile" and "Una furtiva lagrima" are models of youthful lyrical outbursts, one arrogant and callow, the other despairing. Some of the arias fall outside his usual repertoire; "Se di regnar sei vago," from Mozart's Mitridate, is especially impressive, and "J'ai perdu mon Euridice" is vocally gorgeous, but a little emotionally overcharged for Gluck's Classicism. Flórez is fully equipped to toss off the coloratura demands of the repertoire, particularly the Rossini arias, with ease and panache. In La fille du régiment's "Pour mon âme quel destin!," however, Flórez has to deliver the high Cs with a punch, unlike
Pavarotti, who could float them apparently effortlessly. These small quibbles aside, Flórez's performances are a delight. The widely diverse accompanying ensembles are consistently fine. Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, conducted in various selections by
Carlo Rizzi,
Riccardo Frizza, and
Riccardo Chailly, as well as
Les Talens Lyriques led by
Christophe Rousset and the Fort Worth Symphony led by
Miguel Harth-Bedoya support Flórez with sensitivity and conviction. The sound is somewhat variable between tracks, due to the various recording venues, but for the most part it's clean and well balanced, if a little bright.