“Sol y vida” is Elīna Garanča’s journey to the South, from Spain to Italy and Latin America, and it is her first album focusing entirely on a non core-classical repertoire.
Be ready to expect a personal album from the mezzo-soprano, whose center of life has been Spain for many years. A selection of songs, canzone and tango pieces, both mirroring and spreading a flamboyantly emotional array of beaming happiness, passionate longing and exuberant joy. This is a feast of vocal colors, and a firework of passion, from the well-known Granada to the intimate world of La Llorona.
Featuring jewels of Latin American song repertoire like Piazolla’s Yo soy Maria, originally part of a tango operita and Gracias a la vida, one of the most covered Latin American songs in history both featuring guitarist Jose Maria Gallardo del Rey in new intimate arrangements.
Many of the popular pieces have mainly been sung by tenors, like “Core ‘ngrato”, which was probably written for Caruso or the popular Neapolitan songs “Torna a surriento” or “Canto napoletano”.
Here is Elīna Garanča in the “Habanera” from Carmen by Bizet:
