City Desk: Beauty Spot

used that phrase. Florez is a Rossini specialist, with a light, high, sweet, extremely flexible voice. He can do gymnastics in the air, as proven in his new collection of Rossini arias (from Decca). Few tenors can even attempt this Fach—this line of vocal work—so Flórez would be a hot commodity even if he weren’t so good: would be sought after just because he can show up. But he’s a strikingly able singer, over whom they’ll be yelling for years.

Okay, Ramón Vargas is not a South American, but he is Mexican, so close enough. He’s part of this young crop— maybe the star of it—and he, too, has an album of Verdi arias (RCA), and nicely less-familiar ones. His singing is elegant, virile, and stylistically correct. We may soon be without Tenors—dread the day—but we will not be entirely without tenorial comfort.

About the Author

Richard Brookhiser

Historian Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor of National Review and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute.

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used that phrase. Florez is a Rossini specialist, with a light, high, sweet, extremely flexible voice. He can do gymnastics in the air, as proven in his new collection of Rossini arias (from Decca). Few tenors can even attempt this Fach—this line of vocal work—so Flórez would be a hot commodity even if he weren’t so good: would be sought after just because he can show up. But he’s a strikingly able singer, over whom they’ll be yelling for years.

Okay, Ramón Vargas is not a South American, but he is Mexican, so close enough. He’s part of this young crop— maybe the star of it—and he, too, has an album of Verdi arias (RCA), and nicely less-familiar ones. His singing is elegant, virile, and stylistically correct. We may soon be without Tenors—dread the day—but we will not be entirely without tenorial comfort.