The sole reason I bought the ticket was to see and my hear beloved Pláci, and despite the fact that I enjoyed some of the other parts of the show, it would have been worth the ticket price alone. The woman to my left had also come especially to hear Plácido, having never heard him live.
He opened the show singing Vurria, the first track on his new album, Italia Ti Amo. I have to confess I have mixed feelings. If he chose to sing the Argos catalogue, I would be happy, but a thought did go through my mind that if, instead, he had chosen to sing something like Winterstürme, I would have been ecstatic. I have to say that I have heard him sing better, a lot better. But also please understand this is all relative. A devoted fan like myself unreasonably demands perfection always; I am sure anyone who is not such an obsessive fan as I would say that he sang beautifully. And also, let's be clear, he sounded thrilling to my ears and sent pleasure surging through my body. I gazed at him on stage and thrilled at what I saw. He is looking fabulous!
He reappeared later in the first half together with Tony Pappano, to accept the "Critics Choice" award for the Tristan und Isolde set which I reviewed at some length some months ago. He made a speech; I find his speaking voice to be as beautiful as his singing voice.
He reappeared at the end of the second half to be presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award - this was presented by Tony Pappano and Darcy Bussell. The presentation was introduced by Parky. I say that because that was a very special moment for me: I first fell in love with Pláci when I saw him on the Parky show a quarter of a century ago!
Pláci made a lovely speech, saying that it's nice to get a Lifetime Achievement award and still be alive to receive it. He said that every morning he wakes up and gives thanks that he can still sing, and he hoped he would be able to do so the next morning, because he had a Dress Rehearsal for Cyrano de Bergerac. I hugged myself with the pleasure of the knowledge that I would be there. He then spun his line about having a lot of 'accumulated youth', hey it made me laugh, it's a good line! And he thanked the British public for all th elove we have given him for the past thirty five years - he was getting vry emotional. The media reported that he cried although I am unable to confirm this because I was quite some distance from the stage.
The second half finished with a rousing finale, a really special experience, Plácido and Rolando singing together 'Non ti scordar di me', which is a memory I shall treasure for a very long time. Kvetching a bit, it would have been even more special if they had sung something operatic, but I'm not really complaining!
Picture taken from Grauniad
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