Si può? (Two Pagliacci Prologos from Domenico Viglione Borghese) - 1912 & 1924

A rare treat—two significantly different versions of the same aria from the same great singer. In the 1912 version, when Viglione Borghese was only about two years into his main career, he does not sing exactly what Leoncavallo wrote, but he also does not opt for the interpolated A flat. In 1924 he *does* take the A flat, presumably because by then it had become standard/tradition. The voice is spectacularly good in both—both mellow and full of squillo, especially on the 1924 A flat, where he carries an extraordinary amount of core to the top. The sound is like a trumpet being blown, a gong being banged, and a rocket being launched simultaneously. ..................................... This channel is primarily about vocal emission—aural examples of basically correct singing, correct impostazione—chiaroscuro, vowel clarity, firm and centered pitch, correct vibrato action, absence of throatiness or thickness, sounds free from constriction and from the acoustic noise that accompanies it—wit