Ermonela Jaho / Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana / Andrea Battistoni ANIMA RARA

ANIMA RARA

 

Aleksandra Kurzak DESIRE

DESIRE

Anna Netrebko / Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia / Antonio Pappano VERISMO

. . . ["Verismo"] reveals she is more than just a star; her performances of arias and scenes from Italian opera highlight an artistry that is both subtle and thrilling . . . Netrebko's rich lyric soprano is a natural match for the lush vocals demanded by these operas, not least because her voice is at its most powerful and complex in the transitional "passaggio" points at the top and bottom of the treble staff . . . [she] flaunts a fascinating low register in the very first cut on the album, "Io son l'umile ancella" . . . The hallmark of this collection is Netrebko's taking offbeat approaches to pieces opera fans have heard a hundred times before . . . Netrebko's originality of approach can color an entire aria . . . among the most striking performances on this disc are arias from operas associated with full dramatic sopranos. In "Suicidio!" from "La Gioconda", Netrebko evokes a mood of doom with lurching high phrases and plunges into her eerie lower range . . . in the showpiece from "Turandot" "In questa reggia," Netrebko works the many phrases pounding at the higher passaggio like an expert warrior wielding a sword. It's hard to imagine this killer aria sung more beautifully . . . [Eyvazov's] bright, almost metallic tenor provides as well an effective foil in the highlight of this disc, the final act of Puccini's "Manon Lescaut" . . . [Manon]: her onstage experience is immediately apparent in the wealth of detail she brings to this 20-minute scene. Pain, desperation, terror, fatigue -- even momentary bliss when Manon nestles in the arms of her lover -- these conflicting emotions shimmer through Netrebko's voice so seamlessly that at moments it's easy to forget that you're just listening to a recording of an opera. On this CD, Anna Netrebko makes verismo seem realer than life itself. (James Jorden / New York Observer)

Wiener Philharmoniker / Valery Gergiev / Anna Netrebko SOMMERNACHTSKONZERT 2018

The Summer Night Concert of The Vienna Philharmonic is the world's biggest annual classical open-air concert set in the magical Schönbrunn Palace Baroque park in Vienna. The concert will take place on 31 May 2018 and its theme for this year is 'An Italian Night'. The concert is broadcast on TV and radio in more than 60 countries, and thus reaches an audience of millions. The evening’s repertoire is an attractive combination of extremely popular works for orchestra including the William Tell Overture, the March from the opera Aida and the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana, as well as famous Soprano arias like Vissi d’arte, vissi d‘amore from the Opera Tosca. Valery Gergiev returns to conducts the Summer Night Concert and is joined by star Soprano Anna Netrebko in what promises to be one of the most popular concerts this year! (Presto Classical)

Anna Netrebko O MIO BABBINO CARO

In honor of Anna Netrebko’s Summer Night Concert at Schönbrunn Palace, Deutsche Grammophon has released a 4-track Digital EP of highlighted repertoire that was performed for thousands of attendees on May 31. The collection includes a new rendition of her longtime signature, “O mio Babbino caro,” an aria she recorded back in 2004 for her second solo album “Sempre Libera.” This time, she is accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Jader Bignamini.

The new EP comes on the heels of her recent performance at the Sommernachtkonzert where she performed the aria, as well as three other arias.

Angela Gheorghiu ETERNAMENTE

For Eternamente, her first studio recording in six years, soprano Angela Gheorghiu focuses on Italian composers of the generation that followed Verdi and predominantly on repertoire she has not sung before – including some fascinating rarities. Joining her for duets from Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Giordano’s Andrea Chénier is another star of today’s opera stage, tenor Joseph Calleja.

Eternamente is described as a collection of verismo – the term used generically for Italian opera of the immediate post-Verdi era. No matter when they were composed, and no matter what their subject matter, all these operas demand great passion and commitment from their performers – and they get it from Angela Gheorghiu. “It is like my soul, it is something different, it is not the voice,” she explained in an interview with Opera magazine. “The voice is also there, it has to be there, and it has had to be prepared – but at that moment of the performance, there is more. The response is never a conscious exaggeration – it is a natural expression. I am never pretending. It is just how I am at that moment.” The character and impact of her voice was summarised thus in Gramophone: “With her smooth and dark-toned soprano, a voice at once powerfully firm and vulnerable, Gheorghiu stands out from an entire generation of talented singers. Her sound is convincingly Italianate in the great tradition; her voice, once heard, is never forgotten.”

Elīna Garanča / Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana / Roberto Abbado REVIVE

In Revive, her latest album for Deutsche Grammophon, Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča explores the storms raging in the lives of some of the strong women of opera. A world-class performer approaching the peak of her form, she channels her experience and insight into a collection of arias drawn from the great Romantic repertoire, complete with captivating rarities and genuine showstoppers. Revive, released 04 November via Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company, charts the impassioned responses of characters blown off course or thrown into emotional turmoil by events beyond their control.

Bookended by arias from Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Saint-Saëns’s Henri VIII, the album also takes in music from Leoncavallo’s La Bohème and Massenet’s Hérodiade, as well as celebrated set-pieces from Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur, Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila, Massenet’s Werther, Berlioz’s Les Troyens and Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, among others.

This breadth of repertoire bears witness to Elīna Garanča’s vocal versatility and range. Her programme choices amount to a projection of her personal passions and interests at the time of creating the recording. “I feel confident that at this moment I can approach the women in the opera literature who are strong, whom I understand, with whom I can share my own life experience,” she comments. “This has been the guideline in everything I do: I go onstage when I am confident that I understand why I’m going to present a character. I hope that everyone listening to this recording can find something particular: it’s enough if they can relate to only one aria.”

Revive casts light on powerful women to reveal their vulnerabilities and weaknesses. Garanča’s strikingly individual interpretations arise from her empathy for each character and are underpinned by her admiration for their desire always to stand tall, even in moments of despair or apparent defeat.

“All these women are, I think, about exploring an inner world, about people finding themselves in a weak moment, for whatever reason – unhappy love, betrayal, losing power, saying goodbye to loved ones. In my everyday life, I’m everything: I can be jealous, I can be angry, I can be funny, I can be sad. Life is like a big colourful book. So the women on this album belong to a big colourful book.”

Revive was made in company with Roberto Abbado and the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana. Elīna Garanča welcomed a fresh opportunity to work with Abbado, and was delighted by the absolute focus shown by the orchestra throughout the sessions. The recording process allowed the singer to dig deep into dramatic roles destined to become part of her future work in the opera house, notably Mascagni’s Santuzza and Verdi’s Princess Eboli, two powerful roles she is preparing to perform for the first time onstage, at the Paris Opéra (in the autumn of 2016 and 2017, respectively).

“I’m lucky enough to have a mezzo-soprano voice that has the potential for development,” she comments. “I started with Baroque, Mozart and bel canto repertoire, with a little bit more dramatic stuff, too. I have never done Verdi on the stage or really done verismo opera, so there’s something new for me. Now, I feel it is really time to explore further, so the repertoire that is coming now is a new Elīna with new, exciting challenges.” Verdi and verismo, she adds, offer fresh territory for rewarding exploration. “I’m very happy that I can embrace it. It feels right at this moment to move on and reach other mountains!”

Jonas Kaufmann THE BEST OF JONAS KAUFMANN

German tenor Jonas Kaufmann came on the scene in the mid-1990s and has gradually risen to the top rank of the operatic world. His is a remarkable voice in many ways. Like Plácido Domingo, to whom he is a sort of German opposite number, he excels in both Italian and German opera and also sings well in French and English (in an odd performance of a piece from Weber's Oberon, track 17). He adds freely dramatic shaping to lines of the big Verdi and Puccini tunes, almost always defamiliarizing them in ways that seem personal and passionate, with a bit of vocal gravel applied at just the right moment. Kaufmann has done his part to rediscover a languishing repertory, in his case verismo opera from around the turn of the century, and this Best of Jonas Kaufmann collection may be worth the price simply for the little-heard Ombra di nube of Licinio Refice (track 15). The collection represents a good mix of standards and innovative thinking. And, through it all, there's the kind of power that just doesn't come along often. It took a while for general listeners to wake up to the fact that Kaufmann is close to the best out there. This collection draws on recordings made between 2002 and 2010, with a variety of orchestras that are all completely overshadowed by Kaufmann's vocal artistry. It's a fine place to start with a singer well on his way to becoming a household name like the great voices of the past. (James Manheim)