Updated: 2007-01-10 07:37             By  Raymond Zhou

Chinese tenor Fan Jingma spent almost two decades overseas, honing his craft and establishing his career. Recently he returned to China, and Poloarts Entertainment Co came out with a 4-CD box set that is pretty much a celebration of his art.  

The first disk has 12 tracks of the most popular arias from the tenor canon, with emphasis on Verdi and Puccini. This is the repertory by which a tenor rises or falls, and Fan shines in most of the roles. A good tenor is hard to come by, and by this disk alone Fan proves that he is one of today’s best tenors China has to offer.

The 10 songs on CD2 are not really showcases of his strength. Plucked from mostly Broadway musicals, these numbers require a different technique in interpretation, in which even the “three tenors” do not excel. It is difficult for an operatic voice to scale down for musical theater.

CD3 is a hodgepodge of miscellaneous songs, including a few Chinese songs. It is amazing that Fan can be so expressive in this genre. One wishes that he could have made this one an all-Chinese disk.

The biggest surprise is disk four, devoted to Italian folk songs. Fan is so idiomatic and rich and full of ardor that every note oozes Italian sunshine. His teachers, Carlo Bergonzi and Franco Corelli, great tenors of their day, would be proud.

Raymond Zhou                                                                                 (China Daily 01/10/2007 page20)

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2007-01/10/content_779159.htm