I’ve grouped together
this trio of new releases because they
all derive from sessions recorded by
soprano Annette Celine and pianist Christopher
Gould. Celine, a distinguished singer,
was born in Brazil and studied in Milan
and is the daughter of Felicja Blumental.
Her most prestigious moment on disc
came in the Maag-Domingo-Caballé
Luis Miller for Decca, which will be
remembered by many, but she’s clearly
been a busy and popular recitalist.
Clearly she has a number
of strong musical affinities as these
three disparate collections illustrate.
She ranges across genres and languages
at will. No sooner has one supposed
her to be a Franco-Spanish maven than
she confounds expectations by unravelling
her Sibelius or her Slavic repertoire.
But though we have a smattering of Central
European songs – some Mendelssohn, a
hint of her Brahms – in the main we
do find that her greatest strengths
are in the French and Latin American
muses.
It is indeed Cantigas
that proves the most rewarding of
this trio of well-filled discs. It’s
especially valuable because of her affiliations
and associations with Villa-Lobos and
other leading Latin American composers
(the booklet reproduces a delightful
photograph of Celine and her mother
with Villa Lobos and his wife). So we
turn to her for the tristesse of Henrique’s
Morena (and its curiously Brahmsian
moments) as much as the tongue twisting
Trem do Alagôas. No less
do we admire her Villa Lobos – and especially
Cançâo Do Poeta Século
XVIII and her way with the gentle
populism of Ovale’s Azulão.
I have to report however
that much in her singing has to be taken
on trust. Her vibrato has widened alarmingly
and the technique comes under too much
pressure too often. It renders much
in the other volumes (and in truth much
in Cantigas) rather uncomfortable
listening. The problem extends to intonation,
pronunciation, an unsupported lower
half of the voice, limitations at the
top and so on. These seem to be the
product, ungallant though it is to note,
of age. Christopher Gould proves a sensitive
accompanist and has a few solo moments
and the recording balance is well judged.
Jonathan Woolf
BRANA RECORDS BR0011 [68.55]
