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The Art of the Dramatic Mezzo Soprano
TCHAIKOVSKY
Joan of Arc - Farewell, dear hills and fields.
MUSSORGSKY
Khovanshchina - Forces mysteriousa.
CILEA
Adriana Lecouvreur - Acerba voluttà.
ROSSINI
Semiramide - Ah! Quel giorno ognor rammento.
MASCAGNI
Cavalleria Rusticana - Voi lo sapete.
SAINT-SAËNS
Samson et Dalila - Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix.

GLUCK
 Alceste - Divinités du Styx. Orphee et Eurydice - J'ai perdu mon Euridice. VERDI Don Carlo - O don fatale. Trovatore - Condotta ell'era in ceppia. Macbeth - La luce langue; Una macchia è qui tuttora.
Dolora Zajick (mezzo); Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Charles Rosencrans with aPiero Giuliacci (tenor).
Teldec CD-80557 [DDD] [69'25]
Crotchet

Allegedly, Birgit Nilsson once referred to Dolora Zajick in the most lavish of terms: 'Zajick's voice is the only one existing today without any competition in the World'. Praise indeed, and the sheer range of Zajick's engagements, from La Scala to Covent Garden, from the Met to the Vienna State Opera, attest to her popularity. Zajick has a musty but not overly throaty voice, which means she has few problems cutting through difficult orchestral textures.

This recital covers a wide variety of roles in several languages. Her rendition of Tchaikovsky's Farewell, dear hills and fields captures the yearning quality well and paves the way for a similarly involving Horoscope Scene from Khonanshchina. The climax of Acerba voluttà shows just how powerful her voice is.

It is only at the Semiramide aria that slight doubts begin to creep in. She has plenty of punch in the lower register, but the actual pitching of the notes could be cleaner. Neither does she plumb the depths in O don fatale - compare the Eboli of Shirley Verrett in Giulini's recent reissue on EMI Great Recordings of the Century to hear the difference (CMS5 67401-2). A similar fault lies in her Trovatore aria.

I question the inclusion of the Gluck arias. Zajick makes no claim towards authenticity: a word of warning, then, that there is a certain amount of slipping and sliding going on here.

In a recital firmly planned around Zajick's strengths, it is only fitting that she ends (literally and metaphorically) on a high note. She makes an eminently convincing Lady Macbeth and despite a seeming shift of focus in the voice in Una macchia (the Sleepwalking Scene), she shows off her affinity with Verdi excellently. The listener is left with a sense of exhausted satisfaction.

'The Art of the Dramatic Mezzo Soprano'?. It (almost) does exactly what it says on the packet.

Reviewer

Colin Clarke

Performance

Recording

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