Florian Boesch / Roger Vignoles SCHUBERT Der Wanderer

Florian Boesch is the kind of baritone who, once heard, makes you want to hear him in any and all repertoire appropriate to his voice. A more alluringly rich voice than Christian Gerhaher’s is hard to imagine until hearing Boesch, who has a greater capacity for soft singing, maintaining an interpretatively interesting tone even in pianissimos. However, that very quality is what tests one’s loyalties in this conceptually attractive tour of the less-travelled areas of Schubert’s vast song output, with much quiet-and-slow sameness that doesn’t wear easily a full CD.

The song choices are partly to blame. Exploring this kind of Romantic-era archetype involves solitary figures, whether hermits or people who have been rejected by society and left to contemplate the nature of their being. Several songs have the same titles: the composer isn’t heard in multiple settings of the same text but definitely revisits similar poetic territory. The slow-and-soft approach is laudable in theory for mining these often modest creations for hidden depths of expressivity, though there is a point at which their musical examination brings songs to a near standstill. Cohesion and shape are lost. You wonder at times if the music is taking more time to perform than Schubert spent composing it. In all fairness, though, ‘Abschied’ D475, which clocks in at 5’07", has been known to last two minutes longer in performances by Matthias Goerne. ‘Meeres Stille’ D216, a song about the calm sea, is sometimes a shade above audibility. One stretch of the CD has four such songs consecutively. So does Winterreise, you might argue, but in a cycle with a clear emotional and architectural trajectory.

Of course, there’s plenty of artistry here. For all the conceptual orientation of the disc, Boesch isn’t the sort of singer who tells you what to think or feel in this music. He lays it out with hugely attractive (and protracted) clarity and then lets you enter the music a fuller participant. And in many ways, the repertoire shows the roads that led to the well-known Schubert cycles. Maybe all of that means that this disc’s main appeal is to the most serious students of Schubert. (Gramophone)

The Hilliard Ensemble JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Motetten

With just one singer assigned to each part, the Hilliard Ensemble take a minimalist approach to these extraordinary works. Seven of Bach's motets are included - all but one (the four-part Lobet Den Herrn, for which the continuo is supplied by an organ) are given unaccompanied, and the instrumental parts that survive for the double-choir Der Geist Hilft Unser Schwachheit Auf are omitted. The results may seem small-scale, especially to those who regard these works as the summit of the polyphonic choral repertory and favour a monumental approach. There are certainly moments when a greater weight of choral sound might set the contrasts between the different section of each motet, the antiphonal choruses, chorales and arias, into sharper relief. But every member of this remarkable group knows exactly how they fit into the musical scheme - it is likely, too, that the performances of Bach's own time were on this scale. So this disc is a natural successor to the Hilliard's previous excursions into pre-baroque music, supremely musical and overflowing with food for thought. (Andrew Clements / The Guardian)

Anne Sofie von Otter / Bengt Forsberg JOHANNES BRAHMS Lieder

There have been recordings where I've had terrible colds and gone ahead anyway - you have to. But I still wouldn't want to redo them because once it's done I don't want to look back. And being me, I quickly look forward to getting my teeth into the next project! After so much time spent on preparation, rehearsal, getting my creative mind round the specific repertoire, I truly don't feel the desire to go back. When I did my Brahms Lieder recording in the early 1990s, I had a nasty cold and you can hear a sort of nasal twang. I was also coughing the whole time which is extremely bad for the voice. It was hard and we had to do many retakes because of it. But again, once it's done it's done. I don't quite understand why one would want to re-record an already familiar work when there is so much wonderful music left to sing. There have been rare occasions where the mood has been tense which is not good for recording, but you just have to get through it unfortunately. "I let the music speak" would be my inner mantra on such an occasion. (Anne Sofie von Otter / BBC music)

Anna Netrebko SEMPRE LIBERA

The story of her success requires no further recounting here: beginning with a sensational Salzburg début in 2002 as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, she's become an almost unrivalled presence among classical artists. Her first aria recital entered the German pop charts, and with the video clips for this album she stands to become the first opera diva for the MTV generation. The clips have already provided her with a key to the gates of Hollywood. It is in the scene from the Traviata that Anna Netrebko will be making her feature film début in Garry Marshall's Princess Diaries II with Julie Andrews.
Anna Netrebko knows what she can do and where (at least for now) her limits lie. Most of all, she knows what the others can, or could, do. With the greatest respect she speaks of Callas (“She is and will remain unique, there's no one else like her"), of Mirella Freni (“After I've listened to her, I sing better"), and of Renata Scotto, from whom she has learned the essentials for interpreting bel canto roles.
The young Russian soprano's new album seems to invoke comparisons with those legendary singers: anyone who takes on roles like Violetta in La traviata, Amina in La sonnambula, Lucia or Desdemona in Otello has to reckon with being measured against Callas, Scotto, and Freni. Initially Anna Netrebko's new recording was to be a pure bel canto recital, but then Claudio Abbado suggested adding Desdemona's great scena. At first she was sceptical: she had never sung the part before, and, moreover, it lies considerably lower than her bravura bel canto roles. On the other hand, she felt so secure with Abbado and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra that she decided to take the plunge. In the recording, it sounds as though Desdemona has been a fixture of her repertoire for years.
Branching out from lyrical parts (like Susanna in Mozart's Figaro), Anna Netrebko has gradually taken on some heavier, prima donna roles. She made headlines in Los Angeles as Lucia (in a new production by Marthe Keller) and in Vienna and Munich as Violetta, which she has called her most demanding part to date: “First of all, in terms of vocal technique it's incredibly demanding, because you basically need four voices - a different one for each act and scene. And dramatically you need to give everything you've got. You have to love with her, suffer with her, and die with her. Whoever does that, however, will always have to pay a price with the voice - just ask anyone who's surrendered her heart and soul to this role."
Every interpreter of the Traviata must also completely surrender heart and soul to the audi-ence - especially in the crucial scene of Act I, the heroine's internal monologue. Violetta is confused. Is it really love that she feels for Alfredo? She yields to the emotion for a moment, but then pulls back. No, it's all an illusion! What's left of her life she will devote exclusively to the pursuit of pleasure. “Sempre libera!" - Ever free, ever free for new adventures.
“Sempre libera", this desperate hymn to sexual freedom, requires much more than a convincing actress: it demands a vocal virtuoso who has mastered all the fine points of classical bel canto. Verdi decorated the whirl of desire that Violetta evokes here with lots of little notes, and many a world-class diva has stumbled over them. Something else that makes this scene such a bugbear for every singer: at the end it goes up to top E flat. Although Verdi didn't actually notate the part with that extreme high note, it quickly became part of the performing tradition and still remains, despite all arguments against it, a “matter of honour".
Anna Netrebko has taken on this challenge as well. “I don't think I've sung as many high Eflats in my whole life as I did in these recording sessions. But Maestro Abbado and the wonderful orchestra helped me to sing better than ever before." (5/2004)

Mojca Erdmann / La Cetra / Andrea Marcon MOSTLY MOZART

The Muses have been revered as a source of divine inspiration since the time of classical antiquity and are said to encourage artists to give of their exceptional best. From this point of view, the Hamburg soprano Mojca Erdmann seems like a figure from the distant past. Although she is still at the beginning of what promises to be a major international career, she has already inspired a number of contemporary composers, including Aribert Reimann and Wolfgang Rihm. Indeed, Rihm even wrote the main role in his operatic fantasy Dionysos with the young soprano in mind. Her performances in the world premiere at the 2010 Salzburg Festival proved a tremendous personal success.
For her debut with Deutsche Grammophon, however, Mojca Erdmann has chosen a very different type of programme in the form of works by Mozart and his contemporaries: “Mozart has accompanied me all my life. Although my father is a composer and contem­porary music has always played a major role in our lives, for me there is nothing to beat singing Mozart, even though I feel an immense respect for him. You know exactly how it should sound, but it’s insanely difficult to achieve this.”
No one listening to Mojca Erdmann’s singing would suspect for a moment that she finds Mozart difficult. Indeed, her voice is almost ideally suited to the Austrian genius’s music. Her lyric soprano voice is remarkable not only for its beauty but also for its great flexibility and bell-like tone. And she enchants her listeners not just with her voice itself but also with the unconcealed emotionality of her singing: “Mozart goes straight to my heart. That may sound a little dramatic, but that’s how it is. He touches something deep inside me, and some­times the tears come unbidden to my eyes. It’s impossible to say why this should be so, but this magic may well be the secret of his success.”
At the heart of the present album is Pamina’s famous aria, “Ach, ich fühl’s, es ist verschwunden!”, for which Mojca Erdmann has deliberately chosen a slow tempo: “I was keen to express something very inward, very vulnerable. The listener should be able to gaze into this woman’s soul, the soul of a woman who is at her wits’ end and no longer knows where to turn. Her only release seems to be death. What interests me most of all is how exactly he intended his tempo indications to be interpreted. Above all with Pamina I’d love to know whether it would have worked for him if the aria were taken really slowly. Although it says ‘Andante’, it has to be as slow as this for me. If I sang it any quicker, there would no longer be any emotional depth to it.”
The Mozart arias feature alongside works by some of Mozart’s contemporaries and forerunners, works that have been almost completely forgotten but which Mojca Erdmann discovered while preparing for this release. They immediately aroused her interest: “In a letter to his father, Mozart writes very enthusiastically about the music to Ignaz Holzbauer’s opera Günther von Schwarzburg, for example. For me, it was interesting to see what Mozart thought about his fellow composers and how his own music is related to theirs. There are certainly a number of similarities. The aria from Paisiello’s Nina, for instance, starts in exactly the same way as ‘Ruhe sanft’ from Mozart’s Zaide.”
Mojca Erdmann was also surprised by the two arias from Salieri’s Les Danaïdes. Ever since Miloš Forman’s film Amadeus, Salieri has been viewed by the wider public as the man who murdered Mozart. Less well known is the fact that as a composer he was for a time more successful than his younger colleague. Mojca Erdmann, too, is enthralled by the musical quality of Salieri’s works: “Both arias are very short, but in spite of their brevity they are wonderful masterpieces. What Salieri packs into these two minutes is simply incredible.”
The result is an album that avoids the well-worn paths of the standard repertory and introduces listeners to some of the most beautiful arias from the early-Classical and Classical periods. One such composer is Johann Christian Bach, the youngest son of Johann Sebastian and a great influence on the young Mozart’s style. Another is the Viennese composer Ignaz Holzbauer, who wrote over two hundred sinfonias and fifteen operas, most of which have now fallen into neglect. Giovanni Paisiello wrote more than one hundred operas and in his own day was one of the most famous composers in Europe. His works, too, have largely disappeared from the repertory, although they often dwarfed the compositions of his contemporaries with their melodic charm and dramatic intensity.
But the biggest surprise remains Mojca Erdmann’s voice. In her astonishing combination of technical mastery, tonal beauty and consummate expression she affords impressive proof of what Mozart singing can be like today. (Tristan Wagner 1/2011)

Paul Agnew / Anne-Marie Lasla / Elizabeth Kenny / Blandine Rannou PURCELL The Food Of Love

When England was famously snubbed as the ‘land without music’ in the early 20th century, there was one name mentioned as our saving grace – Henry Purcell. He was, said one critic scornfully, the last great composer this country had produced in 250 years. This year’s 350th anniversary of his birth is, then, perhaps particularly special for the British – although this disc of Purcell songs, by the French label Naïve, has a noticeably French flavour.

As tenor Paul Agnew and violist Anne-Marie Lasla write in the sleeve notes, Purcell’s music comes with a “distinctly continental twist” – today, apparently, Purcell is very popular with the French, perhaps because in him they can hear something of their own style. On this disc, we hear the continental influence not only within the music, but in the programme: Purcell’s secular songs are punctuated with instrumental works by the composer’s contemporaries, one Italian, one French and one English.

Purcell’s songs are fantastically difficult to bring off – conveying that finely balanced partnership between music and words, but also taking them on an emotional journey. Do it properly and it’s unbearably moving; do it wrong and it’s agonisingly boring. Luckily Agnew gets it just right, and the ensemble behind him is flawless. There is the right blend of restraint and subtlety, with emotional guts – try I loved Fair Celia or the heartfelt Solitude with a wonderfully well-judged solo viol.

Very rarely – even in the long text settings – do attentions wander, such is the power of Agnew’s clear diction. But one small criticism has to be the tendency to over-floridity – such as Ah! How sweet it is to love, which would benefit from more purity and less vibrato. The famous Music for a While setting is a touch slow and static, although beautifully sung.

These are minor quibbles. Generally the performances are outstanding – and the idea of breaking up the Purcell songs with instrumental solos inspired. The guitar works meanwhile – by Corbetta and de Visée and performed by Elizabeth Kenny – are among the most atmospheric on the disc. (Katie Greening 2009) 

Magdalena Kožená LETTERE AMOROSE

Lettera amorosa is the name of a song by Monteverdi, but in plural form it provides an apposite title for this collection of Italian love songs from the 17th century. “I grew up with this music, and wanted to come back to it”, says Magdalena Kožená. As a result of the weight accorded to music education in communist Czechoslovakia, she was just six when she joined the Children’s Choir at the Philharmonic of her native Brno, where this repertoire was part of the programme. When she was 16 and studying at the conservatory in Brno, she teamed up with a lutenist to perform secular songs by Monte­verdi and his compatriots, and revelled in the creative freedom their music allowed her.

“I find its simplicity very attractive”, she says. “And a simple song can go very deep. This music speaks to people who don’t regard themselves as classical specialists. It comes from a time when there was no equivalent to our divide be­tween classical and pop music: it was simply the music everybody heard and sang. Some of these songs would have been performed in churches, but some are street music, and others were just intended for people to come together and play, rather than perform for an audience. It’s very much ensemble music, rather than about who is going to shine the brightest, and be the star. Because these songs are not difficult technically, one is able to get closer to the essence of what music is about. This is liberating: you’re singing for your own pleasure.” Finding the right ensemble with whom to record was crucial. The singer particularly liked the undogmatic approach of Private Musicke, and the effects it generated through its imaginative use of plucked and bowed period instruments. “The basic assumption with this repertoire is that everybody is free to make their own arrangements, and decide which instruments they will use. We experimented with a lot of different arrangements in concerts before the recording – and this is a freedom we are no longer used to in classical music. It’s got nothing to do with the usual rehearsed approach, where you try to perform it exactly the way you prepared it. It’s a completely different way of thinking about music.” They decided to switch the focus away from Monteverdi – who makes just one appearance – on to songs which many listeners will never have heard. This is a repertoire whose daring dissonances are sometimes closer to modern music than Handel, Vivaldi or even the Romantics. The instrumental selections recorded by Pierre Pitzl and his Private Musicke ensemble agreeably reinforce the period colour. (Michael Church)

Patricia Petibon MELANCOLÍA Spanish Arias and Songs

Spain, and its music and art, have long had a special appeal for Patricia Petibon: “From an early age I was intrigued and fascinated by Spanish culture, by the way the excessive and the subtle are inextricably linked. It glorifies emotions with pride and, at the same time, refinement. It’s a culture that comes from the earth, from the people. Everything about it appealed to me, and in my early recitals I liked to insert some Spanish songs into my American and French programmes. Then, when I went to Madrid to sing in Dialogues des Carmélites, I met the stage director Emilio Sagi, and that led to my opportunity to enter the world of zarzuela. It was Sagi who directed me in Torroba’s Luisa Fernanda in Vienna, where it was wonderful to be singing alongside Plácido Domingo. I found myself surrounded by performers from all kinds of Spanish-speaking backgrounds; they noticed how interested I was in their culture, and that’s how we made a connection, and I learned from real specialists. Spanish artists have a physical sense of the music: for them, it draws its strength from the body, and there I can’t resist making a connection with Baroque music, with dance, of course, and extreme characters – think of Médée or Armide. It also shares the same kind of quality of roughness, of rawness, and voices are used to express emotions, not just to make a lovely sound.”
“I spent a long time thinking about the programme for this disc, creating a mixture of music, and finally I settled on one unifying idea: the feeling of melancholy, which is a reflection of Spain itself. The disc is a journey through different styles, but through folk music as well, which has a strong presence on the disc. The theatrical element is very important, too, and at the centre is the character of Salud in Falla’s La vida breve. She embodies the melancholy of the title, the loss of hope. Melancholy is a balance in life, a sadness that binds us to death. Salud represents the darkest side of melancholy that tends toward tragedy. But this sort of melancholy can also depict the radiance of childhood, of joy and laughter. What I wanted to explore through this disc was the journey between these two poles.”

Magdalena Kožená SONGS

Magdalena Kožená's multi-lingual recital shows this singer's formidable talent for performing widely varying musical styles. Beginning with her idiomatic French (of which we had a substantial sampling on her previous French arias disc . . . she uses her light but well-placed and penetrating mezzo to illuminate Ravel's seductive Madagascar Songs. Listen to how Kožená creates a nearhypnotic effect with her passionate repeated cries of "Nahandove". In Shostakovich's Satires (5 Romances for Soprano and Piano ) Kožená embodies the composer's varied emotional states, from bemusement to sarcasm, and, in the concluding "Kreutzer Sonata", repressed frenzy . . . After Shostakovich's sharp edges, Respighi's lush romantic rhapsody "Il Tramonto" allows Kožená the opportunity to luxuriate in long, expansive melodic lines as well as in the resonance of pure Italianate vowels, for which the singer provides an engaging fullness of tone and depth of expression. From this we turn to Schulhoff's "Drei Stimmungsbilder" (for mezzo-soprano, violin, and piano), which begins with a lazy, quasi blues song about the sea and ends in a Debussian impressionistic haze. Kožená's creamy tone and gentle delivery make even the German language sound soft and inviting. In Britten's "Charm of Lullabies" . . . her sincerity and unerring musical instincts shine through, communicating the power and poignancy of Britten's songs. The well-chosen selections offer a variety of accompaniments, from the flute, cello, and piano trio in the Ravel, to the string quartet in the Respighi, with Malcom Martineau's sensitive pianism providing fundamental support throughout. DG's recording provides vividly realistic sonics, placing the singer and instrumentalists in natural, well-balanced perspective. In sum, this is an excellent recital disc that will please connoisseurs of the voice as well as collectors of uncommon repertoire.

(Record Review / Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com / 01. September 2004)

Ravel wanted his "Chansons madécasses" to sound 'new, dramatic and erotic' and Kozená succeeds, performing them on full throttle, her phrases dripping with desire and anguish. In Shostakovich's "Satires" she negotiates the composer's difficult blend of emotion and irony with masterfull control. And she pares her voice down to gripping simplicity for Britten's "English Lullabies". Martineau's accompaniments are beautifully well-jugded -- almost another voice rather than an accompaniment. This feels less like an recital than an exploration of limits -- limits that Kozená will keep pushing back.

(Record Review / Warwick Thompson and Carzena Hugh-Jones, Classic FM / 01. May 2004)

Much interest in Magdalena Kozená's powerful new recital disc will be centered on Erwin Schulhoff's "Drei Stimmungsbilder" ("Three Atmospheric Portraits"), op. 12. This haunting piece by the singularly talented composer . . . is well worth hearing. The gifted mezzo is helped in no little part by the ideal accompaniment provided by Malcolm Martineau who also lends strong support to Ms. Kozená's moody singing of Britten's spooky "A Charm of Lullabies". The Czech singer's charmingly accented English lends the music an extra brooding quality. Written for Peter Pears, the music is a showcase for Ms. Kozená's ravishingly beautiful low voice. It would be hard to find a better performance of Respighi's magnificent work for soprano and string quartet, "Il tramonto" . . . none have found the sensuous heart of the music better than Kozená. The Henschel quartet plays splendidly, as do the instrumentalists in Ravel's "Chansons madécasses" . . . Young Magdalena Kozená proves a master of these challenging works, each and every one. This is an impressive follow up to her first recital and is, for this reviewer, the lovely mezzo's finest work on disc to date. The recording is first rate . . . Highly recommended.

(Record Review / James Canmer, Fanfare (Tenafly, NJ) / 01. November 2004)

A treasure-trove . . . this is a recital you can listen to in one sitting, marvelling at the artistry of a great singer. (Record Review / Matthew Rye, Daily Telegraph (London) / 11. December 2004)

Bejun Mehta / Freiburger Barockorchester / René Jacobs OMBRA CARA Arias of GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL

I recall hearing a CD (Delos) starring a boy soprano named Bejun Mehta almost 20 years ago. He was amazing. Along with the usual Messiah excerpts he sang Schubert's Shepherd on the Rock; though not perfect, it was remarkable. Since then he has become a world-renowned countertenor, on par with Andreas Scholl and David Daniels. This is, inexplicably, his first recital CD. It's superb.

Mehta differs from other countertenors insofar as his dynamic range is concerned. Furthermore, his phrasing is natural and musical; he can express feelings from rage to ecstasy to yearning by coloring his tone, leaning into a note or phrase. His coloratura is natural and unaspirated; his bottom register takes on a very dark hue without becoming baritonal or chesty. His embellishments are both tasteful and virtuosic--a rare combo--and he has real trills.
The opening number, "Sento la gioia" from Amadigi, tells most of the story: great energy, absolutely impeccable rhythm and diction, a softness in the 'B' section, surprising embellishments in da capo. And I cannot say enough about Jacobs and his Freiburg Baroque Orchestra--the spicy oboes and jubilant trumpets are perfect partners to Mehta's singing.
Later in the CD program the Mad Scene from Orlando shows more specific dramatic abilities; this manic-depressive scene takes Orlando through frightening hallucinations, introspection, and rage, in both accompanied recitatives and ariosos. "Stille amare", one of Handel's greatest moments, shows us Tolomeo as he believes he has taken poison. In fact, it's just a sleeping draught, and his voice trails off at the end in a most un-Baroque fashion. And poor Ottone in Agrippina loves the wily Poppea so much that his lament, "Voi che usite il mio tormento", is truly touching, and is sung with a knock-out legato. The final number is the duet "Per le porte del tormento" from Sosarme, sung with soprano Rosemary Joshua. This is one of the composer's most beautiful episodes and it's performed perfectly, with fine ornamentation in the da capo.
As suggested, Jacobs and his musicians are magnificent--in addition to their accompaniments/collaborations with Mehta, they play the overture to Rodrigo, which highlights bassoons and oboes and a violin solo. (Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com)

Patricia Petibon ROSSO Italian Baroque Arias

One of the great pleasures of attending the theatre is to see a singer come out onstage when the curtain rises and to know that the mere fact of her appearing will put you in a good mood, even if you can already sense from the orchestra that she will be singing something som- bre, moving or emotionally charged. Strange though it may seem, sadness, too, can be a source of pleasure in this way. And that pleasure increases as soon as the singer opens her mouth. Life’s difficulties are all swept away and forgotten. Patricia Petibon achieves this marvellous feat: she makes you happy even when what she is singing brings tears to your eyes. But the most astonishing thing of all about the present programme is the exceptionally close correlation between her own very special qualities and the music that she performs. Patricia Petibon sings all kinds of music from Lully and Handel to Mozart, Debussy and Bernstein but is particularly fond of Baroque music. Even so, it was not with this that she began her career. “When I arrived at the Paris Conservatoire and studied with Rachel Yakar,” she recalls, “I worked on all sorts of music with her. At that time I also sang Zerbinetta in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos. I continue to love all kinds of music: to sing the part of a nun in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites is as moving as lending my voice to all the lovers I’ve recorded.” As for the Baroque period, it was her meet- ing with William Christie which, as she herself acknowl- edges, “pointed me in the right direction”. The music that Patricia Petibon sings on this new recording is a distillation of early opera, a genre that began in Italy before spreading to the rest of Europe. Baroque sensibilities, coupled with the tastes and pleasures of the time, could hardly be satisfied with a style of musical declamation that contemporaries de- scribed as “spianata” – plain and simple. They needed an element of surprise: they needed emotion and wonderment. Composers, audiences and, above all, singers wanted a sense of the marvellous, a magical aspect that even suggested folly: in short, a style described as “fiorito”. The poetry became the servant of the music, which sought to characterize the affetti, or affections, giving rise to a new, closed form, the da capo aria, which allowed the emotions to find lyrical expression, whether that expression was dramatic or more light- weight, and allowed the singer to develop that emotion through his or her vocal virtuosity. Emotion was in this way combined with wonderment. The Baroque world is deliberately located in a world of unreality, vocal mar- vels reflecting a staging filled with apparitions, flying machines and clouds. It echoes the lyricism of Bernini’s Saint Teresa, just as the architectural virtuosity of Francesco Borromini showcased that of the singers in the churches that he designed. As Patricia Petibon says, she tries to “act out what the music says”. The Handel arias that she has recorded here are in themselves enough to provide a cross-section of all the musical and emotional possibilities of Italianate opera of this period. (Excerpts from the booklet text accompanying the album)

Bejun Mehta / Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin / René Jacobs CHE PURO CIEL The Rise Of Classical Opera

 Bejun Mehta possess a large operatic repertoire which comprises, among many others, most of the Händel protagonists for his Fach, including Orlando, Giulio Cesare, Tamerlano, Andronico, Bertarido, Rinaldo and Guido, Farnace (Mozart Mitridate), Oberon (Britten A Midsummer Night’s Dream), and Masha (Peter Eötvös Three Sisters). In October 2008, Bejun Mehta added to his repertoire the role of Orfeo (Gluck Orfeo ed Euridice) under René Jacobs to cheering crowds at Theater an der Wien, where in the same season he also appeared in Claus Guth’s staging of Handel’s Messiah.

In concert, Bejun Mehta regularly appears with recital partner Julius Drake and performs with major orchestras and ensembles, including the Freiburger Baroque Orchestra, the Akademie für Alte Musik, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Les Talens Lyriques, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, the Chicago and San Francisco Symphonies, under such conductors as René Jacobs, Ivor Bolton, Marc Minkowski, Sir Charles Mackerras, Harry Bicket, Christophe Rousset, and Zubin Mehta.

In the famous Preface to Alceste (1767), Christoph Willibald Gluck and his librettist Ranieri de' Calzabigi posited a new direction for opera. They spoke of moving beyond Baroque forms, of striving for a new naturalism in opera. They wanted, in Calzabigi's lovely phrase, to liberate the language of the heart. Taken from the height of this Reform period, the arias on this disc reveal composers exploring and experimenting, at struggle and at play, as they create the new forms that bring to opera the noble simplicity of the Classical era.

New York Polyphony TIMES GO BY TURNS Byrd / Plummer / Tallis

In the years when the four women of Anonymous 4 were regularly recording, you looked forward to each new release, knowing that they would consistently offer first-rate performances and thoughtful, enlightening programs. So far, the four men of New York Polyphony have maintained a similar standard of world-class performance and engaging programming. You may not think the world yearns for another Byrd 4-part Mass recording—that is, until you hear these four male voices sing it. Sure, you’ve heard the Tallis Scholars’ reference version, but have you ever heard it performed by just four voices, ideally matched, of uniquely compatible timbre, combined into such a richly resonant sound? Not to mention theRead more nuances of phrasing, of breathing, of inflection obtainable only by small ensembles whose members are closely bonded personally and are musically of one mind. It’s sung a major-third down from its usual key, and although generally taken at a slightly faster pace than we’re used to (the Agnus Dei a bit too fast to wrench its full emotional impact), in this decidedly non-liturgical context you appreciate the purposeful flow and momentum.
The “early music” part of the program also includes two rarely-heard but eminently worthy works, the Missa sine nomine by English composer John Plummer (1410-1483) and Thomas Tallis’ Mass for Four Voices. The latter, minus a Kyrie, features some of the most gorgeous passages of pure homophony you will hear, sparingly interspersed with polyphonic sections. Here, you really appreciate the vibrant quality of this quartet’s sound, as well as the effect on the ear of such impeccably tuned chords.
Modern works by Richard Rodney Bennett (A Colloquy with God), Andrew Smith (Kyrie: Cunctipotens Genitor Deus), and Gabriel Jackson (Ite missa est) fit perfectly, not just because of their texts, but because of their basic musical compatibility with the older works—set in a modern-tonal structure that respects the sacred-spiritual context. All three of these pieces were written for New York Polyphony; Jackson’s jaunty, jazzy Ite missa est is an ingeniously written little gem, a program-ending highlight that shows off the composer’s affecting harmonic concept and inventive rhythmic textual treatment along with the singers’ most delicate ensemble virtuosity. The sound on this SACD recording, from a Swedish church, is consistent with BIS’s usual high standard. Recommended with the assurance that you will listen to this disc often. (David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com)

Patricia Petibon / Chœur de l’Orchestre de Paris / Paavo Järvi POULENC Stabat Mater - Gloria - Litanies à la Vierge noire

“I have the faith of a country priest,” Francis Poulenc confessed a few days before his sudden death in January 1963. The “bad boy” of French music was also – from the time of the Litanies à la Vierge noire to the late Sept Répons des ténèbres – a masterly exponent of 20th-century sacred music. Poulenc drifted away from religion for a period of some 15 years, only to return to the fold in the wake of the death of the composer Pierre-Octave Ferroud, who was killed in a car crash on 17 August 1936. “The appalling way in which this musician, who was so full of vitality, was wrenched away from us left me utterly stupefied,” Poulenc later explained. “Thinking of how little our human husk weighs, I felt once again drawn to the spiritual life.” Five days after the tragic event, Poulenc visited the sanctuary at Rocamadour, “a place of extraordinary peace” that sheltered the statue of a black Madonna. Deeply impressed, he began work on his Litanies à la Vierge noire that same evening, completing the score within a week. In the opening, marked “calm”, the female chorus alternates with the instrumental part – an organ in the original version of the work. The lines are simple, almost archaic, the conjunct motifs repeated obsessively and studded with harsh dissonances. The score bears the words “humble and fervent”, admirably summing up the composer’s conception of religion throughout his entire life. “It is very special, humble and, I think, gripping,” Poulenc wrote to Nadia Boulanger, who conducted the first performance of the piece for the BBC in London on 17 November 1936. With this “miracle work”, as pure as it is poignant, Poulenc in a moment of great psychological distress expressed his dismay in the face of death and begged the Virgin to grant him the strength to believe in God once again – after all, Mary herself never gave up hope even when her son died on the Cross. In September 1947 Poulenc arranged the organ part for strings and timpani, producing the lesser-known version heard here. It was the death of another artist that inspired Poulenc to write his powerful Stabat Mater for soprano solo, mixed choir and orchestra. In this case the death was that of Christian Bérard, who died in February 1949 at the age of 46. A painter and stage designer, Bérard had worked for Marcel Achard, George Balanchine, Jean Cocteau, Jean Giraudoux, Louis Jouvet and others. Soon after his death, Poulenc wrote: “When Bébé died I was in London, thus missing those horrible days with the funeral arrangements. I can think of him as if he was off on a trip round the world. [...] Dear Bébé, I think of you as a sweet, invisible presence and not, thank God, as a ghost.” In writing a Stabat Mater, Poulenc hoped to commit his friend’s soul to Notre-Dame de Rocamadour. Once again, he felt that in invoking the sufferings of the Virgin at the time of her son’s crucifixion, he might be able to offer the best possible homage – even more so than with a requiem, which would have been too “bombastic” and would have “had the air of a funeral service”. (Excerpts from the booklet text accompanying the album)

LES Sopranos

The term 'soprano' encompasses a wide variety of voices. First come the coloratura sopranos, outstanding for their high notes. Patricia Petibon is a great example; her voice is both agile and pure in Henry Purcell s "Bid The Virtues", in which she and an oboe share a subtle musical conversation. Voices like Julia Lezhneva's, which negotiate wide leaps between the low and high registers, are known as coloratura mezzos. Lezhneva performs two excerpts from Italian opera here: the first, from Vivaldi's 'Orlando Furioso', and the second from Rossini's 'La Donna Del Lago'. The term "light" soprano refers to a bright voice that is at home in the baroque and classical repertoires. Sandrine Piau, an exceptional Mozart performer, gives a dazzling rendition of "Ach, Ich Fühl's" from 'The Magic Flute'. Barbara Schlick, who stands out for her interpretations of Bach's music and her great respect for the text, sings an excerpt from his Cantata BWV180. Magnificent performances by light sopranos Rosanna Bertini, in Monteverdi's "Lamento Della Ninfa", and Gemma Bertagnolli (in "Cujus Animam" from Pergolesi s 'Stabat Mater') round out the programme. A "lyric" soprano generally indicates a voice with a solid and generous medium register. Lyric sopranos are excellently suited to Handel's music. Here Lucy Crowe offers a convincing version of his "The Soft Complaining Flute" from the 'Ode For St. Cecilia's Day'. Veronica Cangemi's dark tone takes the well-loved "Lascia Ch'io Pianga" to new poetic heights, and Karina Gauvin demonstrates astounding control in "Piangerò" from 'Giulio Cesare'. Maria Bayo displays her abilities as a lyric soprano with an aptitude for coloratura singing in the exquisite "Exsultate Jubilate" by Mozart. The "dramatic" soprano is the most intense soprano voice, as Véronique Gens, a habitué of tragic roles, ably shows in an excerpt from Mozart's 'Don Giovanni'. These vocal categories do not define a singer for the whole of her career, however, and certain sopranos change registers with the passing years. Gäelle Arquez's rare recording of "Amerò" from Vivaldi's 'Orlando' demonstrates her talents as both a soprano and as a mezzo. Other voices simply defy classification. Such is the case of the inimitable Felicity Lott, who sings "Plaisir d'amour" with typically immaculate diction. Of course this collection is slanted towards the Naive back catalogue which excludes many of the greatest sopranos but it certainly does illustrate the different types of soprano with an interesting selection of songs. We might have preferred a greater emphasis on explicitly Christian music and, personally, could have done without the references to the popular television drama of the same name but if the gimmick encourages even one listener to give this mid-price CD a try then it will have been worthwhile. (Steven Whitehead)

Anna Netrebko VERDI

. . . Anna Netrebko brings a power to these Verdi arias rarely matched since the days of the great American soprano Leontyne Price. It adds riches to bicentenary celebrations this year of the births of composers Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner . . . Netrebko brings plenty of emotional force and vocal colour as she releases the dark powers of Lady Macbeth in the sleepwalking scene and other "Macbeth" excerpts, and her performance of "O fatidica foresta" from . . . "Giovanna D'Arco" displays the quieter textures and beautifully floated top notes at her command. Netrebko's operatic credentials are affirmed in duet and Siciliana from "Sicilian Vespers", "Tu che le vanita" from "Don Carlo" and four "Trovatore" selections revealing a diva who has truly evolved into a character performer fit for this Verdi feast shared with Orchestra Teatro Regio Torino under the empathetic direction of Gianandrea Noseda.

Record Review / Patricia Kelly, Courier Mail (Brisbane) / 03. August 2013

I have rarely been so wowed . . . Netrebko's career is an object lesson in how to take your time until your voice is just right for certain roles. While other sopranos thrust into the operatic limelight crash and burn, Netrebko has wisely bided her time. Over the past few years, since the birth of her son, her soprano has undergone quite a transformation. It has darkened considerably and increased in size and power . . . On the evidence of this disc, there is much to be excited about. Netrebko thrills before a note is even sung. She opens with Lady Macbeth's Act I aria and cabaletta, starting with a reading of the letter which crackles with electricity and whispered awe. Her Italian diction is very fine and she is alive to the text. When she muses 'Duncano sarà qui?' you know precisely what she means with each repeated 'Qui?'. In the aria 'Vieni! T'affretta!', she is imperious, these dark, sensual colours quite fabulous to hear. In the cabaletta 'Or tutti sorgete, ministry infernali'. . . the overall effect is gripping . . . Netrebko's ability as a singing actress are to the fore here, every word loaded with meaning: 'Di sangue umano sa qui sempre' is full of horror. The disc ends with Leonora's great scene in Part IV of "Il trovatore", with the excitable Rolando Villazón guesting as an off-stage Manrico. In 'D'amor sull'ali rosee' Netrebko's soprano has never sounded more luscious; she is a real spinto in the making, unleashing great waves of tone at climaxes . . . Her Giovanna d'Arco is sung with great sincerity amid delicate scene orchestral painting . . . ["Don Carlo"]: Her opening statement is magnificent and she spans Verdi's long, arching phrases very well . . . The Orchestra Teatro Regio Torino performs this music with exactly the right weight and passion . . . Netrebko's disc is the finest contribution in his defence thus far and should whet appetites for her future forays into this repertoire.

Record Review / Mark Pullinger, Opera Britannia / 11. August 2013

Domingo VERDI

The world-renowned tenor releases his first album of baritone arias “apparently unstoppable in his second career as conductor and baritone” The Telegraph. For the very first time, Plácido Domingo records a complete album of baritone repertoire and assembles Verdi´s most beloved baritone arias from Don Carlo, Rigoletto, La Traviata and Simon Boccangera among others.
Verdi played the largest part in Domingo´s long career. His debut as an opera singer was in the part of Borsa in Rigoletto. As he has sung 22 of Verdi tenor roles and has recorded all of Verdi's tenor arias, Domingo is now exploring the darker characters of Verdi’s opera.
In 2009 Plácido Domingo performed his first baritone title role as Simon Boccanegra at the Royal Opera House in London, which was soon followed by leading roles as Rigoletto, Francesco Foscari and Giorgio Germont from La Traviata. This year will see Domingo debut in the leading roles of Nabucco at the Metropolitan Opera New York and Conte di Luna from Il Trovatore at the State Opera in Berlin.
Considered to be THE Verdi tenor of his generation, Plácido Domingo presents now a new side of his vocal abilities, for which one may want to name him THE Verdi singer.
Plácido Domingo is accompanied by the Orquestra de la Comunítat Valencíana under the direction of conductor Pablo Heras-Casado.

Plácido Domingo about Verdi: “Verdi is a wellspring of great music, and every lyric singer is grateful to him. When you think of the musical distance that he travelled from his first opera, Oberto, in 1839, to Falstaff, in 1893, the evolution is almost incredible. The passion, the dramatic sense, the sensitivity to the voice – those qualities were there from the start. But the ability to develop individual characters in music, the refinement in orchestration, and the gradual transformation of Italian opera from a series of beautiful set-pieces into a logical, dramatic whole – this process of maturation seems almost miraculous. So for me 2013 must be a special celebration, a tribute, and an act of thanksgiving and love toward Giuseppe Verdi.”

Patricia Petibon AMOUREUSES Mozart / Haydn / Gluck

Barbarina and Susanna, Armida and Zaide, Giunia and Iphigénie: these complex portraits of several different kinds of women provide the theme for French soprano Patricia Petibon’s debut recital for Deutsche Grammophon. Above all, however, they are portraits of women in love. The range of emotions and situations could hardly be greater, extending from the first innocent thrill of love to despair and feminine guile to the end of love, attended by anger and even hatred. “It’s a musical and vocal approach”, she explains, “but also a theatrical and dramaturgical one. Amoureuses depicts various characters who may in fact represent no more than facets of a single figure. On the one hand, we have Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro, a character of great purity who could even be described as angelic, while on the other hand we have the Queen of Night in Die Zauberflöte, a mature woman who once knew love but who has now lost her way and who loves only herself and power.” It goes without saying that such contrasts, emotions and passions demand a response that goes far beyond mere beautiful singing. Patricia Petibon uses vocal colours and shadings, risking extremes of expression and emotion and exploiting her voice’s fullest potential in order to reveal the countless facets of these roles. “If the text demands a certain sharpness, harshness or roughness, then vocally, too, I choose to go down this particular path. What I do not want is aesthetic homogeneity and superficial beauty”, she describes her approach to the music. She owes this search for the artistic truth to two great conductors above all. “I come from two different schools: those of Nikolaus Harnoncourt and William Christie; both have strongly influenced me and have taught me to interpret music in my own, highly distinctive way and to be true to myself and to others.” (Excerpts from the booklet text accompanying the album)

Maria Pia de Vito / François Couturier / Anja Lechner / Michele Rabbia IL PERGOLESE

A project paying tribute to 18th century composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710 – 1736), Il Pergolese presents new arrangements and improvisation inspired by opera and sacred music. Singer Maria Pia De Vito, pianist François Couturier, cellist Anja Lechner and percussionist Michele Rabbia also consider Pergolesi’s relationship to the art music and the popular music of Naples from a contemporary perspective,. The text of the Stabat Mater – translated into Neapolitan by Maria Pia De Vito – and the opera arias, are transformed into songs and vivid narrative, open frames providing the key to reinterpreting Pergolesi. François Couturier's arrangements widen Pergolesi's structures, offering space for much improvisational interaction. For Il Pergolese is a real group project with creative from all participants, a discourse among sounds with rhythms generated by drums and metals and sampled and real-time electronics. “Sound textures grow dense with the richness of instrumental counterpoint or are set free in electronic soundscapes and along coloristic, percussive lines, as cello becomes voice or voice becomes an instrument” says Maria Pia De Vito in a performer’s note in the CD booklet.

The project was commissioned by the Festival Pergolesi-Spontini of Jesi in 2011. Reviewing the premiere performance, Augusta Franco Cardinali of Voce della Vallesina wrote of “unforeseen impressions for the listener. Crystallized sound fragments expand into flares of notes like meteors. Pergolesi’s music emerges, becomes increasingly recognizable until it is transformed into prayer... This music, in which different styles are blended together, cannot be categorized. It would be inexact to call it ‘experimental music’, since its sound material, both vocal and instrumental, is treated with uncommon sensitivity, competence, intelligence, and stylistic elegance as well as technical expertise...” The improvisational component ensures that each performance of Il Pergolese is unique. The present interpretation was recorded in Lugano in December 2012, with Manfred Eicher as producer.

Three of the protagonists of Il Pergolese – François Couturier, Anja Lechner and Michele Rabbia are well-known to ECM listeners. German cellist Lechner has appeared on more than twenty ECM recordings playing everything from tango with Dino Saluzzi to compositions of Mansurian and Silvestrov with the Rosamunde Quartet or arrangements of Gurdjieff with Vassilis Tsabropoulos. At home with both improvisation and the classical tradition, Lechner is, with Dino Saluzzi, the subject of the documentary film “El Encuentro” made by Norbert Wiedmer & Enrique Ros and recently issued by ECM on DVD.

French pianist François Couturier is the founder-composer of the Tarkovsky Quartet, of which Anja Lechner is a member, and also plays in duo with the cellist. Couturier’s other ECM albums include a solo recording Un jour si blanc, and a duo disc with violinist Dominique Pifarély, as well as recordings with Tunisian oud master Anouar Brahem.

Italian percussionist Michele Rabbia has been the principal drummer of Stefano Battaglia’s projects since 2000 and appears on several ECM discs with the pianist including Raccolto, Re: Pasolini and Pastorale a disc of duets incorporating his live electronic treatments. Rabbia has collaborated with numerous musicians, the long list including Enrico Rava, Charlie Mariano, Antonello Sallis, Dominique Pifarély, Rita Marcotuli, the Italian Instabile Orchestra, Sainkho Namchylak, Paul McCandless and many others.

Singer Maria Pia De Vito makes her ECM debut with Il Pergolese. She has long been active in improvisation and jazz with musical partners including John Taylor, Ralph Towner, Rita Marcatouli, Norma Winstone, Steve Swallow, Paolo Fresu, Gianluigi Trovesi, Giorgio Gaslini, Colin Towns and many more. Musical research, exploring beneath the work’s surfaces, has been a key element of her performances from the outset, whether the music at hand has been jazz of the American songbook, idiosyncratic Neapolitan vocal music (De Vito is herself a native of Naples), adaptations of Monteverdi with Bruno Tommaso or – as on the present disc – Pergolesi as an improvisational resource.

Patricia Petibon NOUVEAU MONDE Baroque Arias and Songs

With Christopher Columbus (yes, him from 1492) joining Harnoncourt, William Christie and Savall on the dedicatees’ list, Petibon’s new release explodes like an alt-folk concept album. As Basle’s La Cetra, plus certain South American obbligato instruments, Baroque and baroll behind the French soprano, it can get loud – José de Nebra’s opening zarzuela aria (1744) sounds like an attempt at all four Handel Coronation Anthems in less than six minutes while Petibon’s contribution mixes a tale of shipwrecked love with yelping early salsa-style vocalises. For contrast there’s a serene ‘Greensleeves’ and a wonderful, painfully impassioned (if exotically pronounced) ‘When I am laid in earth’ – with most imposing continuo – to vary the emotional dynamic. Then the mocking demons in Charpentier’s Médée and their grungy accompaniment (the effect accentuated by the timbre of the ancient instruments) sound like evident contemporaries of Purcell’s witches and sailors. Andrea Marcon’s band rightly get a break of their own, a dance actually, in further Charpentier before their whistles and thundersheets kick up the storm that nearly overwhelms heroine Emilie in Les Indes galantes. We may be on the way to a ‘new world’ – Petibon’s booklet interview links up influences which include Brazilian rock radio, Michael Haneke’s Don Giovanni and Cortés’s Conquistadors – and we reach it eventually at Purcell’s ‘Fairest isle’ (the English again rather special) but there’s sure plenty of well-acted vocal heartbreak on the way. And folk rock – try the version of the traditional ‘J’ai vu le loup’ or the Peruvian ‘Tornada La Lata’.

Like her equally Spanish-tinged ‘Melancolia’ album – but with totally other colours – ‘Nouveau monde’ is a tightly thought-through and arranged and compelling programme, a tour de force for its performer/ compiler, most atmospherically recorded (Rainer Maillard) in Basle’s Martinskirche. Compulsive, repeatable listening.

(Mike Ashman)