For the last twenty years soprano Emma Matthews has been an invaluable asset to Opera Australia, her miraculously reliable vocal abilities elevating many potentially mundane evenings into memorable occasions. With a captivating, vivacious stage presence whether playing sweet ingénue, saucy minx, ditzy maid or femme fatale (her Lulu was an unexpected tour-de-force) one felt secure knowing the musical values would always get their full due. Her virtues of beautiful silvery tone with tight but attractive vibrato and her impeccable technique allied with rock solid intonation are showcased here with this collection of Mozart arias. Opening with Lieve sono al par del vento one hears the artist’s virtues in a nutshell; beauty and virtuosity in abundance but never for the sake of empty display. Ruhe sanft, mein holdes leben is radiantly sung with the ends of phrases hanging in the air like silk on a breeze and Ach, ich fühls is sung with chaste purity and refreshing simplicity. She certainly has the pipes to deal with the concert arias; four of which are offered here and are the highlights of the recital. These are notoriously tricky works with many stratospheric passages; the coloratura demands are ramped up due to their function as insertion…

Volume 61 in Hyperion’s Romantic Piano Concerto project finds Howard Shelley in top form. Not only does he despatch hair-raisingly difficult passagework as if it were the simplest exercise, but he simultaneously directs from the keyboard, securing committed and alert playing from his Hobart colleagues. How far these labours are justified by the music’s merits remains the question. Theodor Döhler (1814-56) and Alexander Dreyschock (1818-69), both child prodigies who achieved brief renown, will be largely unknown. Dreyschock’s most admired achievement consisted of playing Chopin’s Revolutionary Study with octaves added to the left-hand; Döhler lacked even this claim upon posterity. Dreyschock’s Morceau de Concert deserves revival – a Beethovenian study in gravitas, with intelligent instrumentation in which cello and horns play significant roles. It seems odd that anyone capable of writing this should also have purveyed the clichéd homage to Vienna, for which even the booklet note cannot summon marked enthusiasm. Döhler’s concerto lies between the Dreyschock pieces in quality, with some imaginative modulations in the first movement but with bland note-spinning elsewhere. Hyperion’s engineering is clean and well-balanced, if slightly less opulent than the label’s best. Not among the finest releases in this valuable series. Continue reading Get unlimited digital…

Slovenian conductor Marko Letonja will take over as Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra in January 2012. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in