It hardly seems possible
that Arleen Auger is no longer with
us. This makes her legacy all the more
fragile and valuable so all good thanks
to Avie for returning this Haydn disc
to the catalogues at reduced price.
She recorded it with the august and
venerable Handel and Haydn Society,
the oldest such arts group in America,
under the direction of Christopher Hogwood.
It was taped in 1988, five years before
her grievously early death at the age
of fifty-three.
The repertoire suited
her voice well. Though critics may have
feasted on the tonal qualities of the
voice and its beauty of sound and production,
Auger’s was also a dramatic voice and
that is noticeable here to a high degree,
especially when the cantatas give her
the opportunity for some florid extensions
and soaring declamation. The scene from
Berenice is a case in point. Drama is
at the heart of it and the invitations
to convey passion – wide intervals,
divisions, the voice both extending
low and then floridly high – reveal
a musician of acute dramatic flair.
She sometimes coarsens the tone fractionally
in extremis – this is no vibrato-free
zone – but when one hears her negotiate
the strolling gait of her aria Non
partir one hears anew just how and
why she was so highly regarded. Her
considered gravity is a joy.
Son pietosa forms
an immediate contrast with its pastoral
delicacy, though one not without its
own degree of abrasion, and Auger proves
a lyric exponent of its charms. Good
string pointing from the band as well.
That kind of attention to detail is
apparent in the orchestral version of
Arianna a Naxos where it’s clear
that the vocal and string colours have
been subtly matched and that the one
sheds light on the other. The play of
string shading on Auger’s soprano is
consistently imaginative and revealing
as is the tension and bite Hogwood evokes
from his forces. She gauges the character
and force of her recitatives and arias
with quiet precision; nothing sounds
forced or improperly dramatic, stylistically
speaking. The Petrarch setting Solo
e pensoso acts as another contrast
in which we can again admire Auger’s
pristine divisions and the fine contributions
of the orchestral winds. Miseri noi
is another cantata of considerable
power and force and once again Augur’s
rises to the challenges – both vocal
and expressive – with great brilliance
and authority. Certainly some may question
the occasionally strident tone that
does creep into the voice but as far
as I am concerned its dramatic tension
is justification enough. These are not
easy works to inhabit; Auger certainly
does that.
There are good notes
printed on good quality paper. Translations
are into English. All are worthy of
the consistently elevated standard of
singing and performance to be found
here and more than that one cannot say.
Jonathan Woolf
The
Avie Catalogue
for
details
Arleen Auger (soprano) 
