Luciano Pavarotti, legendary Italian tenor and larger-than-life personality, died just a few hours ago at his home in Modena, Italy. He was 71. You can read the NYTimes obituary here.
I never knew him, and never heard him sing live – but his incomparable sound has touched anyone who has ever heard him, either live or via recordings. My most treasured aural moment of his is his great recording of Nessun Dorma from Puccini’s Turandot, and the great charisma that he exhibits throughout. My favorite part of this recording of the aria comes after his incredible last note, held out as long, (no – longer!) as possible, and the orchestra (The London Philharmonic, under Zubin Mehta) is clearly playing for their lives, going over the top, simply mad with pent up emotion over the incredible performance that they have just accompanied, and you can practically see the brass players’ tongues coming out of the bells of their instruments, the string players collecting sawdust underneath their chairs from the frantic sawing fortissimos – it’s amazing, and it makes me nearly weep every time I hear this recording, from simple joy and awe.
You can find the aria for download at iTunes, here.