Amici e Rivali -- friends and rivals (not "frenemies," but generally one or the other) -- are terms that suffice to describe the contents of Rossini's rather slender output of tenor duets, in general not a common form in 19th century opera. Tenors Lawrence Brownlee and Michael Spyres don't have a lot to work with to put together an entire program, and one of the attractions of this Warner Classics/Erato release is how well they do at this: the sequence of pieces feels something like an opera. It lacks a slam-bang finale, ...
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Amici e Rivali -- friends and rivals (not "frenemies," but generally one or the other) -- are terms that suffice to describe the contents of Rossini's rather slender output of tenor duets, in general not a common form in 19th century opera. Tenors Lawrence Brownlee and Michael Spyres don't have a lot to work with to put together an entire program, and one of the attractions of this Warner Classics/Erato release is how well they do at this: the sequence of pieces feels something like an opera. It lacks a slam-bang finale, but Brownlee and Spyres bring in other singers (mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught and tenor Xabier Anduaga) just often enough to allow the addition of material that keeps things flowing. The paucity of tenor duets has an advantage: although Il barbiere di Siviglia is here, and the moderately popular Otello, there are some very rarely performed pieces present, including those from the underrated (musically, at least) Ricciardo e Zoraide. The combination of Brownlee's and Spyres' voices,...
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