The Sixteen continues its exploration of Henry Purcell’s Welcome Songs for Charles II. As with Robert King’s pioneering Purcell series begun over thirty years ago for Hyperion, Harry Christophers is recording two Welcome Songs per disc.
In February this year, Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho made a highly lauded debut recital at Wigmore Hall - a concert which both celebrated Opera Rara’s 50th anniversary and honoured the career of the Italian soprano Rosina Storchio (1872-1945), the star of verismo who created the title roles in Leoncavallo’s La bohème and Zazà, Mascagni’s Lodoletta and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.
Collapsology. Or, perhaps we should use the French word ‘Collapsologie’ because this is a transdisciplinary idea pretty much advocated by a series of French theorists - and apparently, mostly French theorists. It in essence focuses on the imminent collapse of modern society and all its layers - a series of escalating crises on a global scale: environmental, economic, geopolitical, governmental; the list is extensive.
Amongst an avalanche of new Mahler recordings appearing at the moment (Das Lied von der Erde seems to be the most favoured, with three) this 1991 Mahler Second from the 2nd Kassel MahlerFest is one of the more interesting releases.
If there is one myth, it seems believed by some people today, that probably needs shattering it is that post-war recordings or performances of Wagner operas were always of exceptional quality. This 1949 Hamburg Tristan und Isolde is one of those recordings - though quite who is to blame for its many problems takes quite some unearthing.
The voices of six women composers are celebrated by baritone Jeremy Huw Williams and soprano Yunah Lee on this characteristically ambitious and valuable release by Lontano Records Ltd (Lorelt).
As Paul Spicer, conductor of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir, observes, the worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary is as ‘old as Christianity itself’, and programmes devoted to settings of texts which venerate the Virgin Mary are commonplace.
Ethel Smyth’s last large-scale work, written in 1930 by the then 72-year-old composer who was increasingly afflicted and depressed by her worsening deafness, was The Prison – a ‘symphony’ for soprano and bass-baritone soloists, chorus and orchestra.
‘Hamilton Harty is Irish to the core, but he is not a musical nationalist.’
‘After silence, that which comes closest to expressing the inexpressible is music.’ Aldous Huxley’s words have inspired VOCES8’s new disc, After Silence, a ‘double album in four chapters’ which marks the ensemble’s 15th anniversary.
A song-cycle is a narrative, a journey, not necessarily literal or linear, but one which carries performer and listener through time and across an emotional terrain. Through complement and contrast, poetry and music crystallise diverse sentiments and somehow cohere variability into an aesthetic unity.
One of the nicest things about being lucky enough to enjoy opera, music and theatre, week in week out, in London’s fringe theatres, music conservatoires, and international concert halls and opera houses, is the opportunity to encounter striking performances by young talented musicians and then watch with pleasure as they fulfil those sparks of promise.
“It’s forbidden, and where’s the art in that?”
Dublin-born John F. Larchet (1884-1967) might well be described as the father of post-Independence Irish music, given the immense influenced that he had upon Irish musical life during the first half of the 20th century - as a composer, musician, administrator and teacher.
The English Civil War is raging. The daughter of a Puritan aristocrat has fallen in love with the son of a Royalist supporter of the House of Stuart. Will love triumph over political expediency and religious dogma?
Beethoven Symphony no 9 (the Choral Symphony) in D minor, Op. 125, and the Choral Fantasy in C minor, Op. 80 with soloist Kristian Bezuidenhout, Pablo Heras-Casado conducting the Freiburger Barockorchester, new from Harmonia Mundi.
A Louise Brooks look-a-like, in bobbed black wig and floor-sweeping leather trench-coat, cheeks purple-rouged and eyes shadowed in black, Barbara Hannigan issues taut gestures which elicit fire-cracker punch from the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
‘Signor Piatti in a fantasia on themes from Beatrice di Tenda had also his triumph. Difficulties, declared to be insuperable, were vanquished by him with consummate skill and precision. He certainly is amazing, his tone magnificent, and his style excellent. His resources appear to be inexhaustible; and altogether for variety, it is the greatest specimen of violoncello playing that has been heard in this country.’
Baritone Roderick Williams seems to have been a pretty constant ‘companion’, on my laptop screen and through my stereo speakers, during the past few ‘lock-down’ months.
Melodramas can be a difficult genre for composers. Before Richard Strauss’s Enoch Arden the concept of the melodrama was its compact size – Weber’s Wolf’s Glen scene in Der Freischütz, Georg Benda’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Medea or even Leonore’s grave scene in Beethoven’s Fidelio.
The recurring practice in classical recording studios is “re-mastering” recordings of a legendary artist, sometimes focusing on those artists well known but not frequently recorded. Soprano Mara Zampieri is one of those veteran performers, who released only a handful of commercial recordings and no personal compilations. Myto’s new release, Mara Zampieri: A Tribute to Verdi, is proof why this singer has not been recorded more frequently.
Mara Zampieri: A Tribute to Verdi
Mara Zampieri (sopranao) sings arias from Nabucco, Ernani, Giovanna D'Arco, Attila, Stiffelio, Aida, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Un Ballo in Maschera, La Froza del Destino
Myto 052.H102 [CD]
A recurring practice in classical recording studios is "re-mastering" recordings of a legendary artist, sometimes focusing on those artists well known but not frequently recorded. Soprano Mara Zampieri is one of those veteran performers, who appears in a relatively short list of commercial recordings and a few personal compilations. Myto's new release, Mara Zampieri: A Tribute to Verdi, is proof why this singer has not been recorded more frequently.
Born in Padua in 1951, she received her musical training at the Padua Conservatoire. She made her debut at 21 in the Fraschini Theatre in Pavia. She also was the winner of many prestigious international awards early on, including the AS.LI.CO of Milan. It seems, however, that this premature push in her music career led to a faltering technique, which is evident on practically every track on this recording, not to mention creates an unstable ground from which to perform Verdi.
The disc contains selections from Verdi's most popular heroines, Abigaille, Elvira, Givanna D'Arco, Odabella, Lina, Leonora, Violetta, Amelai, Leonora, and Aida. Unfortunately, Zampieri handles each role differently vocally speaking, not being consistent in her voice production or in her sensitivity and attention to detail in the music. Indeed, the sound can be very imposing, but the quality stays in the throat and doesn't bloom into the hall, which gives her timbre that "boy soprano" characteristic.
Some selections included are captivating, such as Odabella's "Liberamente or piangi... O nel fuggente nuvolo" from Attila. Zampieri exhibits sensitive phrasing and a sensible light and flowing vocal timbre. If only she performed in this way consistently in the rest of the disc!
Alas, one gem of an aria does not a recording make. Foolishly the recording's producers buried her best work in the middle of the disc, and exposed probably her worst work at the beginning. Zampieri's Abigaille is atrocious, particularly "Ben io t'invenni o fatal scritto." The dramatically disjunctive Verdian recitative, moving quickly from extreme high to low, takes her out of her best vocal core and into pinched high notes and tottery chest notes. She loses all grace in the line, something she mastered in the Attila. Her coloratura is also varied in tempo, from the sporadic in "Tutto sprezzo che d'Ernani" to outright rushing in Violetta's "Sempre libera."
There are many lyric sopranos performing on world stages today that would be able to undertake a recording such as this and execute each role, each aria with more musical competency. Not recommended.
Sarah Hoffman