A true American tenor, his superb voice was recognized with a Richard Tucker Career Grant.
He does not have a true heroic tenor voice like, say, Ben Heppner, a great Tristan who has avoided Siegfried, probably sensibly.
It was as Rodolfo that Mr. Giordani made his 1995 Met debut, and it is always rewarding to hear the role sung by a true Puccini tenor.
Knowing that it took time and a lot of patience to produce a true heroic tenor, Melchior left a quarter of his estate for fellowships to be awarded to the most promising new heroic tenors of the world.
Here was a true Puccini tenor, with warm, throbbing, supple phrasing and some triumphant top notes, including a defiant high A sharp when he sang "Vittoria" at the news of Napoleon's victory at the Battle of Marengo.
Though he is a big man, with the power to fill a hall of this size effortlessly, he can preserve, when singing at full stretch, the fine, fresh tone of a true lyric tenor.
Where reviewers could get the essence of a Pavarotti appearance in a phrase (the glories of a true Italian tenor!), a Fischer-Dieskau recital was akin to a magic show, with seamless shifts in dynamics and infinite shadings of coloration and character.
But as the weeks progressed, he trusted his true tenor more, and he evolved from shtick to feeling.
Marcelo Álvarez, the Manrico, was a zesty substitute for the true Verdi tenor we're all still waiting for.
That might even be more true as Tenor begins to expand internationally, planting people on the ground to figure out what localized versions of the service look like.
