Opera
CD and Other Review

Review: Popcorn (The 7 Sopranos)

A turquoise background offsets seven pin-up girls juxtaposed into the letters P-O-P C-O-R-N. The playful album matches The 7 Sopranos’ spirit in this compilation of songs from stage and screen. A luscious bloom of strings and brass introduces the disc, quickly heralding us into an overture before the words “I got rhythm” ring out in all-female voices. They aren’t always perfectly in tune, and the balance of the ensemble could be better approached, however, when listening to such classics as these, perhaps the addition of some ‘human’ qualities helps you to believe in the dream of romance. Dubin and Warren’s Keep Young and Beautiful is crisp and maybe a little deliberately pompous. In Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend, soloist Clarissa Spata comes to the fore in a rich and glamorous rendition. It’s a fairly simple ride, but the 16 tracks are well spaced with swooning, slower tunes interspersed with upbeat toe-tappers. Other highlights include I Enjoy Being a Girl by Rodgers and Hammerstein and Howard’s Fly Me to the Moon, modestly featuring soloist Deborah Rogers. The 7 Sopranos pays homage to this golden era with grace and authenticity. As they state in their sleeve notes: “We believe in making…

March 3, 2017
Opera
CD and Other Review

Review: Mozart: Zaide (Classical Opera/Ian Page)

Mozart started work on his incomplete opera Zaide in 1779 at the age of 23, finishing just 15 numbers before setting it aside to write Idomeneo. Its two acts – there would have been three – are however filled with some wonderful music including two melodramas and the most famous number, Zaïde’s Ruhe sanft. Act One finds Gomatz (Allan Clayton) among the slaves of Sultan Soliman (Stuart Jackson). He sleeps to forget his plight and, as he does, Soliman’s favourite odalisque Zaide (Sophie Bevan), sings Rest gently by his side. Soon enough, Gomatz, Zaide and sympathetic guard Allazim (Jacques Imbrailo) plan their escape. Act Two sees the hapless lovers recaptured and condemned to die. This is yet another superlative addition to Ian Page’s period ensemble Classical Opera’s critically acclaimed complete cycle of Mozart operas. The brilliance of the orchestral playing is established from the beginning with a highly dramatic reading of an overture lifted from Mozart’s incidental music to Thamos, König in Ägypten. Those following British soprano Sophie Bevan’s stellar career will find nothing to disappoint, while arias such as Gomatz’s Rase, Schicksal, wüte immer (Fury, destiny, keep on raging) allow Clayton to demonstrate his own mastery of… Continue reading…

February 23, 2017
Opera
CD and Other Review

Review: From Melba to Sutherland (Various Artists)

Here is a true labour of love: a history of Australian singers on record from the Nellie Melba generation to that of Sutherland and beyond. Music historian Roger Neill and recording expert Tony Locantro have spent 13 long years bringing this project to fruition, and the results – presented by Decca Eloquence on a four disc set – are fascinating. “Why has there been such an extraordinary procession of world-class Australian singers over such an extended period of time?” ask the producers. While providing no exact answers, this comprehensive survey includes some 80 wonderful singers in a wide range of musical genres, from opera to music hall and from art song to popular. Lovingly restored and remastered from original sources, many of these recordings are rare to downright obscure, and many names will be rediscoveries for even those who thought they knew the history of Aussie singers on record. The set begins with the eight Australians who are known to have been pupils of the great European singing teacher Madame Mathilde Marchesi. Ada Crossley, Amy Castles and Evelyn Scotney stand out, but the finest has to be Frances Alda who duets here with Caruso and whose In quelle… Continue reading…

February 23, 2017