Francesco CILEA
(1866–1950)
Adriana Lecouvreur (1902): Poveri
fiori [3:27];
Bedrich SMETANA
(1824–1884)
Dalibor (1868): Dobrá! Já
mu je dám! … Jak je mi? [3:16];
Pyotr Il’yich
TCHAIKOVSKY (1840–1893)
Oprichnik (1874): Pochudilis mne
budto golosa [3:34];
Giacomo PUCCINI
(1858–1924)
Tosca (1900): Vissi d’arte [3:50];
Erich Wolfgang
KORNGOLD (1897–1957)
Das Wunder der Heliane (1927): Ich
ging zu ihm [6:40];
Charles GOUNOD
(1818–1893)
Mireille (1864): Le ciel rayonne,
l’oiseau chante … Ô légère
hirondelle [3:39];
Richard STRAUSS
(1864–1949)
Die Liebe der Danae (1944): Orchesterzwischenspiel
[3:18]; Wie umgibst du mich mit Frieden
[4:52];
Nikolay RIMSKY-KORSAKOV
(1844–1908)
Servilia (1902): Tsvetï moi!
[4:36];
Giuseppe VERDI
(1813–1901)
Il trovatore (1853): Tacea la notte
… Di tale amor [5:12];
Jules MASSENET
(1842–1912)
Cléopâtre (1914): J’ai
versé le poison dans cette coupe
d’or [4:37];
Leoš JANÁČEK
(1854–1928)
Jenůfa
(1904): Mamičko, mám těžkou
hlavu …[9:26]; Kdo to
je?–Jenůfa,
ty jsi ještě vzůru? [4:48];
Erich Wolfgang KORNGOLD
Die Kathrin (1939): Ich soll ihn
niemals, niemals mehr sehn [4:43];
Returning from a trip
to Helsinki on 10 December, the day
of the Nobel Prize Ceremony in Stockholm,
I found that I had missed the radio
broadcast of a concert given two days
earlier for Nobel Prize winners with
families and specially invited guests
at the Stockholm Concert Hall. Guest
soloist, on her first visit to Sweden,
was Renée Fleming. The reviewers
of the two leading morning papers waxed
lyrical about her singing. On a catholic
programme, ranging from Richard Strauss’s
Capriccio to Broadway musicals,
she also included two numbers from her
latest CD – the Tosca and Trovatore
arias. It would have been nice to
hear her live performances for comparison.
To refresh my memory
I played a couple of tracks from her
Bel Canto disc, which was recorded
almost seven years earlier. What is
immediately noticeable on this new disc
is that the creamy quality, which made
her such a popular singer but also caused
some critics to complain about blandness,
isn’t quite as creamy any more; the
quick vibrato has widened a mite and
the tone has hardened, there is more
edge to it. This is not only a disadvantage
since it also makes the voice more dramatic
and expressive, and her real forte,
to sing these ravishingly controlled
pianissimos, is undiminished. There
are always pros and cons when a voice
ages – just as with wines – and Renée
Fleming has reached a stage when the
acid is a little more conspicuous and
so more suited to meatier dishes while
still light enough to be enjoyed with
fowl. Adriana Lecouvreur, for instance,
needs both the edge and the lightness,
but it is the soft legato singing that
impresses most. The big romantic gestures
of Milada in Smetana’s Dalibor
benefits from the greater heft in the
voice, even more Nataliya’s aria from
Tchaikovsky’s first operatic success,
Oprichnik, sung with great intensity.
She catches Tosca’s grief admirably,
addressing not an audience but God and
finishes on a marvellous pianissimo,
maybe excessively held but impressive
even so.
Korngold as opera composer
is mainly known for Die tote Stadt,
which has had a renaissance lately but
there is memorable music in the remaining
four operas too and Renée Fleming
soars beautifully in both. The role
of Heliane in Das Wunder der Heliane
was created by the great Lotte Lehmann,
who also recorded it, but Ms Fleming
can definitely be mentioned in the same
breath as her great predecessor - praise
indeed. Even mo
Renée Fleming (soprano); Yvona Škvárová
(mezzo) (Jenufa); Kirill Terentiev (violin)
(Jenufa)