Puccini par excellence

Jose Cura: "Puccini arias" (Erato)

Yeah, yeah, we've heard it all before: Nessun Dorma, Mimi's tiny frozen hand and the rest. Or have we? Who among us could whistle the melody from, say, Dimmi Che Vuoi Seguirme from La Rondine? Or Torna Ai Felici Di from the wonderfully named The Willis? If you're already yawning at the idea of another Puccini Greatest Hits collection, be advised that this is Puccini as you've never heard him before. For a start, it boasts a beguiling mix of the familiar and the not-so-familiar, with Il Tabarro and Edgar woven cleverly between La Boheme and Madama Butterfly.

Secondly, Jose Cura brings to even the most tired of tunes a spine-tingling, eye-opening vocal freshness and dramatic integrity - when he floats out those dreamy introductory phrases of E Lucevan Le Stelle, you forget that you've seen a thousand grotty Toscas and see instead the blameless hero Cavaradossi as, awaiting execution by firing squad, he ponders the irony of dying just now, when he loves life so much. Without this kind of verisimilitude, the most beautiful voice in the world would be wasted in this kind of repertoire. Luckily, Cura has the most beautiful voice in the world as well - or so it seems when you listen to him sing the mouth-wateringly tender Non Piangere, Liu, or Addio, Fiorito Asil, or Ch'ella Mi Creda. If you only buy one opera CD this year, do yourself a favour and make it this one.

You can catch Jose Cura in person when, accompanied by orchestra, he sings at the RDS in Dublin next March: tickets will go on sale early in the New Year.