Ciao, Luciano

A larger-than-life man with an outsized voice that he always said was “a gift from above,” Luciano Pavarotti is passed away after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. I think many were surprised he lived so long, given that malady. A very great artist is gone.

There will a thousand blogs posting versions of Nessun Dorma and Ave Maria, and they’re great and it will a joy to see them, but my favorite aria of his was Vesti La Giubba from I Pagliacci – I’m a sucker for it:

Although classicists and purists criticized him for performing with more “commercial” (and popular) artists, I kind of liked how Pavarotti mixed it up with contemporary musicians. Opera gains new fans when singers dare to move outside of their repertoire, and that’s not a bad thing. Here he is with U2, enhancing an otherwise musically rather redundant song, Miss Sarajevo. As soon as Luciano comes in, the entire piece is elevated into something almost transcendent – well done, all parties, but Pavarotti makes it. His top note on “l’amore” brings chills:

I rather like this collaboration with James Brown.

Sigh. I would have loved to have heard him with my beloved Miss Ella.

Fausta has more, including a nice clip of a young and beardless Luciano with the ever-great Dame Joan Sutherland. The sound quality is not great but it is enough. And there is a collection of commentary from other musicians – opera and rock – here.