Carlo Colombara: The Art of the Bass

"The productions are all top-notch, with sumptuous period costumes, appropriate and appealing sets, a good chorus, and several dancers and extras who also appear throughout. The music is well sung by Colombara, a seasoned performer now in mid career and known particularly for his Verdi roles.

Colombara sings an aria from Nabucco here, "Tu sul labbro de' veggenti" from the second scene of act II, as well as three other Verdi works: Jacopo Fiesco's aria from the prolog of Simon Boccanegra, King Phillip's act III aria from Don Carlo , and an aria from the title character in Attila. They are all sung very well indeed and serve to showcase the bass's Verdian credentials. Opening the video is a nonsinging segment with flamenco dancers performing to a rapid percussion beat and their own rhythmic clapping, but this proves to be a natural and excellent introduction to Colombara's opening presentation of "Votre toast," the matador Escamillo's aria from Carmen, unusual fare for a bass, but richly and excellently sung here. We also get two devils, one from Gounod's Faust and one from Boito's Mefistofele, the latter of which includes more fine dancing, a bit of it topless. Colombara also sings Aleko's Cavatina from the rarely performed one-act Rachmaninoff opera Aleko, the composer's Russian answer to Italian verismo, as well as another Russian-language aria from Boris Godunov.

It all proves to be quite entertaining, both for the rarely collected bass opera repertoire and for the fine performances of Colombara, both musical and dramatic…the cleverly staged visual elements add greatly to the total package." Fanfare