"Renee Fleming: Handel Arias" H. Bicket, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightment (Decca)
Renee Fleming is perhaps the most popular current American opera singer. Handel is one of the most popular and sought-after opera composers today. At first, such a deliberate combination provokes the following reasoning: yes, it’s cleverly invented, but why should the prima donna torture herself and the listener by mastering the style of baroque opera that is completely alien to her? Moreover, with the abundant presence of recognized specialists who perfectly interpret Handel’s repertoire without any regard for Verdi and verismo. However, as it turns out, no one was actually hurt as a result. Connoisseurs of bel canto, who look down on pre-Zartian music, received an excellent lesson in how rich, sincere and refined Handel's operatic lyrics can sound. And lovers of deliberately “lean” baroque vocals can be convinced that, in fact, Renee Fleming’s glossy-sensual timbre does not seem at all outrageous in this repertoire. By the way, she is not a neophyte at all - she sang Handel’s heroines on stage more than once, with the most famous authentic conductors, and this hardly passed without consequences for her. And on this disc, she performs a set of Handel’s operatic and oratorio arias for soprano (including the most hit ones - from “Caesar” and “Xerxes”), accompanied by Harry Bicket and the “Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment”, who skillfully help the singer to feel confident and confident in Handel’s element. comfortable. Instead of thick operatic “chic,” the diva honestly and diligently conveys lightness, grace of sound, and strictly defined emotional persuasiveness. It turns out that she does it quite effectively, despite minor technical flaws, and does not at all smack of operatic “consumer goods”. Even the conclusion of the disc is revealing. Instead of ending the program with something catchy and bravura, the singer chose to make the last number a small scene from the rare oratorio “Alexander Balas”, performed meekly, tactfully and with such soulfulness, which, I think, redeems the too straightforward sparkle in some of the previous tracks .

Hector Berlioz. "Benvenuto Cellini"

J. Nelson, Orchestre National de France (Virgin Classics)

The fate of Berlioz's operas was, to put it mildly, not cloudless. The first of them, “Benvenuto Cellini” from 1838, was a catastrophic failure at the premiere and was not performed for a century and a half after that. In addition, its score has reached us in numerous and contradictory editions. In this recording, conductor John Nelson consciously adheres to the original version and uses his own way of recalling the high artistic merits of this successful but unsuccessful opera. The method is unique: restrained style, a pale orchestra on duty, somehow academically interpreting everything sharp and whimsical in Berlioz's score - and at the same time maximum attention to the vocals. Not only the vocals, but also the fierce acting “into the microphone”. Although the soloists sometimes go overboard with this acting (not to the detriment of the music), this strangely benefits the impression of the opera: it is the chain of intricately woven and not without comical “played” ensembles that becomes the living pulse of this entire cumbersome adventurous opera about the adventures of a dissolute man at the papal court jeweler Benvenuto Cellini. From this point of view, the most successful works were produced by Patricia Ciofi (Teresa) and Laurent Naouri (Balducci). And in terms of pure musicality, perhaps the title role was the best: the skillful, agile, light tenor of the Australian Gregory Kunde, along with the brilliant mezzo Joyce di Donato (Ascanio), is a bright and memorable decoration of this recording.

Magazine "Kommersant Weekend" No. 72 dated April 22, 2005, p. 42

Authors:

Sergey Khodnev

Classics with Sergei Khodnev