Yvonne Kenny has been
one of the most impressive of Handel
sopranos for so many years now that
it has even been possible to take her
for granted. The level of tonal beauty,
operatic intensity, mastery of divisions,
intelligent appreciation and application
of ornaments, blending of voices in
duets, superior impersonation and acting
skills that Kenny has evinced, however,
are rare commodities. She first sang
Alcina, Sutherland’s famous role, moving
on to include Semele and Xerxes, Julius
Caesar and Rinaldo amongst others that
will be remembered by many. Her performances
with ENO are imperishable memories for
me.
Here she joins with
her fellow Australian Paul Dyer and
the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra
for a series of arias from some of the
works noted above, ones powerfully associated
with her. Also included in a way familiar
from other Australian original instrument
discs are some purely orchestral items.
They act as a recital contrast, though
many greedily will want more Kenny.
Having spoken admiringly
of her command and application of ornaments
I’m going to contradict myself with
the very first item, nothing less than
Laschia ch’io pianga. I admire
the singing but who on earth concocted
the ornaments? They are simply excessive
and ruin the lyric line and I can’t
believe that on listening to them someone
didn’t wince. Well obviously no one
did and I’m out on a limb but this is
an aria that is so powerfully expressive
it doesn’t need this level of extraneous
business. Her Alcina arias are very
much better behaved in this respect.
The recording, made back in 1997, may
pick up a slight spread at the top of
the voice but generally Kenny’s conviction
is quite able to accommodate it, even
if some may object to certain aspects
of her vibrato usage. There is a chastely
moving Piangerò la sorte mia
quite properly prefaced by its recitative
(well paced) with a commanding B section.
The accompaniment to V’adoro pupille
with theorbo, bassoon and oboe is deft
and there’s a refined inward nobility
at work here. Sometimes I detected a
sharp edge to the voice in De tempeste
but the divisions are authoritative
and athletic. The selections from Semele
include a good Overture from Dyer and
the Orchestra and Oh Sleep why dost
thou leave me, which is shaded with
instrumental textures of mellifluous
tone painting. In Myself I shall
adore she is trippingly self-regarding
- as she must be – and the tempo is
certainly not forced. There are two
arias from Xerxes, the first quite straight
and Chi cede al furore from Act
II which features a good quick trill,
a few tough registral leaps, confident
divisions and an air of bracing command.
Unlike a recent ABC
recording of Kenny singing English song,
which was horribly resonant, this is
entirely better and was taped in the
Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Centre, Ultimo.
Balance between voice and band is just
and the sound, if a trifle chilly, is
still very acceptable. There are full
texts provided and some sumptuous colour
and black and white photographs of the
soprano in her stage roles. Voluptuaries
will like to know there’s a (chaste)
photograph of her in her bath in Julius
Caesar. You never get that with
James Bowman.
Jonathan Woolf
Yvonne Kenny (soprano) 
