Page 78 - BBC Music (January 2020)

Opera Reviews

Niccolò Conforto, Geminiano in the voice throughout which some
Reissues Reviewed by George Hall Giacomelli and Giovanni Battista may find appealing.
Mele, as well as Anon (possibly Less appealing is Kovaleska’s
Handel Sosarme Farinelli himself in one case, plus diction. There’s impenetrable
Eloquence 482 8582 (1955) 148:05 mins (2 discs) some of his own decorations). French in ‘Dis moi que je suis belle’
An early enterprising recording of a still rare Handel Fascinating for their historical from Massehet’s Thaïs, and you
opera makes a broadly positive impression, with associations, the arias are less do wonder what language Gluck
magical countertenor Alfred Deller leading a mixed exceptional purely as music. chose to set in Euridice’s aria ‘Che
vocal team and good orchestral values. HHH Mezzo Ann Hallenberg’s tone is fiero momento’. Is it lèse-majesté to
mature, but her voice is still fluent suggest that Maija Kovaleska needs
Rameau Les indes galantes and her technique skilful, with
Harmonia Mundi HAX 8901367.69 (1991) a solid range from the top to the to work on her language skills?
Christopher Cook
193:07 mins (3 discs) bottom of her voice and an effective HHH
William Christie’s studio recording with his specialist trill; diction could be clearer, and PERFORMANCE
ensemble of Rameau’s 1735 opéra-ballet offers stylish her medium-scale mezzo doesn’t RECORDING HHHH
singing and playing from start to finish. HHHHH L’Opéra du Roi soleil
always ride the orchestra, but she’s
Margaret Price in Recital Arias by Bellini, able to negotiate the programme’s Arias by L Lully, JB Lully,
Verdi, Rossini et al fabled technical difficulties Marais, Campra, Desmarest,
Eloquence 482 5237 (1969-89) 139:43 mins (2 discs) with confidence, if perhaps less Stuck & Monteclair
A wide-ranging selection of the pristine vocalism of virtuosically than the singer of Katherine Watson (soprano);
the great Welsh soprano, stretching from Welsh folk legend once did. Les Ambassadeurs/Alexis Kossenko
songs through Schubert, bel canto and Verdi, to Ravel, The playing of the 12-piece Aparte AP209 73:25 mins
Berg, Phyllis Tate and Alun Hoddinott. HHHHH orchestra is colourful and For those worried

Vienna, Women and Song Arias by J Strauss II, immediate, with particularly that a recording
Millocker, Suppe, Kalman et al brilliant horns, while the music entitled ‘The
Eloquence 484 0156 (1971/74) 149:44 mins (2 discs) moves very nicely under Stefano Opera of the
Stylish renditions by singers imbued with the Austro- Aresi. Vital sound. George Hall Sun King’ might
German operetta tradition, including a substantial PERFORMANCE HHHH imply lashings
selection from Kálmán’s Countess Maritza, all RECORDING HHHH of Lully, there is much more variety
conducted by the idiomatic Anton Paulik. HHHH on offer here in an imaginatively-
Majesty – Operatic Arias assembled programme, including
Arias by Gluck, Mozart, Puccini, Eurydice’s lament from Orphée by
Massenet and Tchaikovsky his son Louis. While undoubtedly
Australia in August 2018. Skelton born with Wagnerian silver spoons Maija Kovaleska (soprano); Liepaja expressive, Louis’s writing is a
gave them a performance that ran in their mouths! Fisch understands Symphony Orchestra/Atvars little foursquare; Marais’s lament
the full gamut of this impossibly about partnering his singers but he Lakst!gala for Ariane offers far more passion
demanding role: coldly alienated never forgets that the psychological Odradek ODRCD372 52:16 mins and variety. To say that the artistic
in Act I when Isolde demands him drama of this extraordinary work is Majesty is hardly peaks on this disc are represented
to attend her; softly romantic in the played out in the pit quite as much as a modest title for by Lully’s successors and the
extended love duet in Act II, and on stage. Christopher Cook a debut recital troughs by Lully himself would
agonised as the dying hero unravels PERFORMANCE HHHH disc. But after verge on the unjust, but the ear is
his history in the final act. Skelton RECORDING HHHH being crowned inevitably drawn to the superb
combines power and lyricism with The Farinelli at the 2006 lightness of Campra’s Chaconne
a remarkable stamina. And his Operalia competition, the Latvian from Idoménée or the elegance of
attention to detail is matchless. Manuscript soprano Maija Kovalevska has his Sarabande from Télèphe. And
But Tristan und Isolde needs Arias by Latilla, Conforto, been greatly admired at home for those enervated by a surfeit of
more than a Tristan. While some Giacomelli, Mele and Anon. and abroad. Hers is a big voice, lamentation, the Italianate jollity of
may have doubts about Gun- Ann Hallenberg (mezzo-soprano); and with her conductor Atvars Stuck’s trumpet-accompanied air
Brit Barkmin’s Isolde, wanting a Stile Galante/Stefano Aresi Lakst!gala she has assembled a big from Thétis is a complete delight as
fuller rounded tone, there is no Glossa GCD 923521 72:04 mins programme that begins with Gluck is Marais’s rollicking Sailors’ March
questioning the dramatic power Illustrated and and ends with Tatiana’s letter scene from Alcyone.
of her voice. In her Act I narration described by the from Eugene Onegin. There’s Mozart Katherine Watson is an
you hang on her every word; and conductor within too – a somewhat unsatisfying ‘Mi excellent guide in this repertoire.
when she spits out the word ‘vassal’, an excellent tradi ...’ from Don Giovani in which The abundant ornamentation
describing what she has become booklet, the Kovalevska rather ambushes the required is always integrated into
as a trophy bride, the venom is manuscript the aria after a thoughtful reading of her seamless and highly expressive
palpable. Ekaterina Gubanova legendary castrato sent in 1753 the recitative. vocal line. Unfortunately, the
is a rich and ripe Bragäne and to the Empress Maria Theresa of However, Puccini is the beating, rather resonant acoustic militates
Boaz Daniel a deeply satisfying Austria contains six arias and two throbbing heart of this recital. If against enjoying every nuance in
Kurwenal; and then there is Ain recitatives which the singer had Kovalevska’s Mimì in both ‘Mi her performance and some details of
Anger’s Mark, not a well-aged bass sung ‘to the private comfort of my chiamano Mimì’ and her Act III the accompaniment are sometimes
but somehow younger, making endearing sovereigns’ in Spain – farewell to Rodolfo is a little too obscured, a pity since the playing
his incomprehension in the Act II though as Stefano Aresi explains, beefy for a woman marked for a of Les Ambassadeurs directed by
monologue all the more affecting. their story is not quite the one that young death, the arias from Gianni Alexis Kossenko is flexible and
All honour, too, to Asher Fisch most of us know. Schicchi and Turandot are well done, expert throughout. Jan Smaczny
and the West Australian Symphony Also unfamiliar are the names though she is clearly not one of PERFORMANCE HHHH
Orchestra who sound as if they were of the composers – Gaetano Latilla, nature’s Lius. There’s a slight rasp RECORDING HHH

80 BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE