Opera
CD and Other Review

Review: Verdi: Rigoletto (Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia)

Italy in 1954 was steadily emerging from the disasters of the war. Fellini filmed La Strada and in a recording studio in Rome one of the most exciting tenors of the time, Mario del Monaco, was singing a role that we don’t normally associate with him. Rigoletto’s notorious Duke of Mantua is seemingly a perfect fit for the Italian tenor’s virile and thrilling delivery, and yet this post-war studio recording under the steady baton of Alberto Erede – here reissued on Decca Eloquence – is something of a rarity. Del Monaco’s lower larynx technique and testosterone-driven energy are ideal for Verdi’s set pieces Questo o quella and the wonderful quartet. But equal billing must go to Italian baritone Aldo Protti, who was a specialist in the title role having played the nasty court jester well into his 60s, and Austrian soprano Hilde Gueden. The latter with her sweet and light tessitura was a noted Mozartian, but she does equally well here and her scenes with Protti are a highlight. In those pre-stereo days the Decca engineers were yet to perfect their hallmark sound but, despite some balance problems with the woodwind and the inevitable soupy quality of the strings, turn…

August 14, 2015
Opera
CD and Other Review

Review: Emma Kirkby: The Complete Recitals

It was a revelation. I can’t exactly remember the first time I heard that wonderfully clear, clean tone, but it was unlike any voice I had heard before. For those of us swept up in the fervour of bringing ‘authenticity’ to early music, she was our standard-bearer; one who would liberate this music from what we perceived to be the sludge of indulgent romanticism. Our views may be a little more nuanced these days, but I suspect those who came to know her in their youth still hold a great deal of affection for Dame Emma Kirkby. Here is a golden opportunity to relive those heady days. Across 12 discs, we have Kirkby’s solo recordings for L’Oiseau-Lyre. Founded by Melbourne philanthropist, Louise Hanson Dyer, the label was one of the first to champion historically informed performances and was right on the money when it contracted Kirkby. Beginning in the late 70s there are some rather folksy programmes of Elizabethan songs, pastoral and amorous dialogues, accompanied by her long-time partner, Anthony Rooley. Duets with Judith Nelson follow and then a splendid Purcell recital revealing growing vocal and dramatic intensity. Such intensity is wonderfully deployed in her 1996 disc of Bach wedding…

August 14, 2015
Opera
CD and Other Review

Review: Fiamma del Bel Canto (Dianna Damrau)

Fresh from her triumphant Lucia, German diva Diana Damrau stays in Donizetti territory for her latest solo album, mixed up with some Bellini, Verdi and a couple of verismo numbers for good measure. The 43 year-old has established a glowing reputation in Europe and at New York’s Met where she has become a firm favourite. This collection shows us why. Damrau’s versatility is firmly to the fore in excerpts from Donizetti’s Rosmonda d’Inghliterra and Maria Stuarda, intercut by arias from Bellini’s I Puritani and La Sonnambula, before her applauded dramatic skills are given a workout in selections from Verdi’s I Masnadieri, La Traviata and Luisa Miller. Her vocal accuracy and agility are no better displayed than in Ah! Non giunge from La Sonnambula, but it is what she does with Verdi – and favourites from La Bohème and Pagliacci – which whet the appetite of this reviewer. This is a voice full of power and beauty across the entire range, but with the additional character and buoyancy necessary for the bel canto repertoire. Damrau gets strong support from mezzo Nicole Brandolino, tenor Piotr Beczała and her husband bass Nicolas Testé. The Orchestra Teatro Regio Torino under Gianandrea Noseda has all…

August 13, 2015
Opera
CD and Other Review

Review: The Five Countertenors

Fifty years ago, the idea of “The Five Countertenors” would have been Alfred Deller, John Whitworth, Russell Oberlin and, err… Even 30 years ago a quintet of such voices would have likely encapsulated half of the known suspects. Nowadays, however, the countertenor seems almost as common as the next voice-type, its superstars are fêted on world stages and their fans are becoming as opinionated as those of rival divas from way back when. The beauty of Decca’s latest recital disc, though, is not just the presence of five of today’s finest guys who sing high, it’s an opportunity to explore repertoire in a programme where most of us would probably only be familiar with the two Handel arias (and those not that common either). Comparisons are odious as they say so I’ll begin at the beginning with Romanian-born German countertenor Valer Sabadus (pictured above) who gets a couple of stonkers: Jommelli’s catchy Spezza lo stral piagato from Tito Manlio and a superbly dark, theatrically intense aria from Gluck’s Demetrio. His silky smooth voice is high (but not the highest here) and his tone deliciously plangent. The Catalan Xavier Sabata is probably the lowest voice and the finest dramatist in the…

August 13, 2015