Annette Celine was
born in Brazil and is the daughter of
the distinguished Polish born pianist
Felicja Blumental. Celine studied in
Milan and has sung widely, making a
number of recordings. I reviewed three
of the most recently recorded recently
on this site. The recording under consideration
is undated and derives from a number
of sessions dated, I’d guess, to the
late 1960s and 1970s. Recording quality
varies quite considerably.
The Scarlatti evergreen
gets off to a rather bumpy start. Celine’s
voice production is rather breathy and
diction is none too clear. There’s also
a lack of centre to the tone, which
makes things rather uncontrolled and
lacking in lightness and delicacy. Her
first Pergolesi song is extracted from
a complete recording of La Serva
Padrona – this is the only example
– with the Rome Radio Orchestra and
Alberto Zedda. It dates, I assume, to
the late 1960s. The recording quality
varies from session to session, it must
be said, and the Mozart examples tend
to suffer from rather occluded sound
and, for all her confidence, I do find
certain aspects of her vibrato problematic.
Her Polish songs fare rather better;
they’re warmly characterised despite
the limitations of the original recordings.
Blumental’s accompaniment sounds very
boxy and dulled in this acoustic but
though Celine tends to hardness in,
say, The Warrior, she is certainly
engaged, for all that there is a want
of real colour and flexibility in the
voice.
Strauss Ständchen
isn’t optimally floated and does get
rather effortful towards the top of
Celine’s compass but it’s welcome to
hear the Schoenberg songs and the two
Weill settings, the second of which
is in English. There’s a pleasing swagger
here. But the best performances are
reserved for last where she is accompanied
by eight cellos in the Villa-Lobos.
They suit her voice well and her voice
sits comfortably here, as it didn’t
really in Scarlatti or Strauss.
Given the vagaries
of the 1960s and 70s recordings and
also some unconvincing performances
a recommendation is partial at best.
It’s certainly pleasurable to hear Blumental
in her unusual role (on disc at least)
as an accompanist. And Celine does some
things well. A mixed bag.
Jonathan Woolf
Annette Celine (soprano) 
