Nicolai Gedda: Lyric Poet of the Tenor Voice
If you're considering a career in opera, it doesn't hurt to have your parents speaking Swedish and Russian at home while your school teaches you French, German and English. It also helps to have one of the most beautiful tenor tones and strongest technical foundations in the world. The wide-ranging repertoire that resulted for Gedda is explored across 11 CDs; he sings in German, French, Italian, Russian, English, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Spanish (!) as you hear his performances of Mozart (from Die Zauberflote ), Beethoven (from Christus Am Olberge ), Wagner (from Lohengrin ), Rossini (from Guillaume Tell ), Berlioz (from Benvenuto Cellini ), Gounod (from Faust ), Massenet (from Manon ), Glinka (from Boris Godunov ), Rimsky-Korsakov (from May Night ), Puccini (from Manon Lescaut ), Lehar, Faure, Debussy, Poulenc, Grieg, Sjoberg, Sibelius and more including the CD debut of his Russian folk songs. Bravo!