Celine Byrne - For Eternity
Alfredo CATALANI (1854 – 1893)
1. Ebben? Ne Andrò lontana (La Wally) [3:37]
Antonin DVORAK (1841 – 1904)
2. Song to the Moon (Rusalka) [5:59]
Pablo LUNA (1880 – 1942)
3. Canción Española (El Niño Judío) [5:18]
Georges BIZET (1838 – 1875)
4. Je dis que rien ne m’épouvante (Carmen) [5:00]
Giacomo PUCCINI (1858 – 1924)
5. Un bel di, vedremo (Madama Butterfly) [4:18]
Federico Moreno TORROBA (1891 – 1982)
6. La Petenera (La Marchenera) [2:54]
Leo DELIBES (1836 – 1891)
7. Les Filles de Cadix [3:15]
Giacomo PUCCINI
8. Crisantemi [6:18]
9. Vissi d’arte (Tosca) [3:24]
Charles GOUNOD (1818 – 1893)
10. L’Air des bijoux (Faust) [4:38]
Giacomo PUCCINI
11. Si, mi chiamano Mimi (La Bohème) [4:53]
Enrique GRANADOS (1867 – 1916)
12. La Maja y el Ruiseñor (Goyescas) [6:22]
Ruggero LEONCAVALLO (1858 – 1919)
13. Qual fiamma avea nel guardo … Stridono lassù (Pagliacci) [4:40]
Bonus track:
Andrej BABIC (?)
14. For Eternity [3:11]
Celine Byrne (soprano)
RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra/Marco Zambelli
rec. National Concert Hall, Dublin, 17-18 May 2010
No texts enclosed
RTE LYRIC FM CD 128 [63:53] 
The Irish soprano Celine Byrne has, not least through her collaboration with
José Carreras, appeared in many concerts around the world. She has built up
an operatic repertoire of around a dozen roles, some of which are represented
on the present disc. She has a beautiful lirico-spinto voice with enough power
for the dramatic climaxes to ring out.. Her timbre is actually more mezzo
than soprano but she has no difficulty with encompassing the highest notes.
A lot of the songs and arias on this disc are impressively sung but I feel
that she has not yet grown into some of the roles. She seems to feel at home
in La Wally (tr. 1) and she sings the Song to the Moon from Rusalka
beautifully. The aria from the zarzuela El Niño Judio is simply glorious
but I would have liked her to scale down for the more lyrical moments.
In Micala’s aria from Carmen she manages this admirably with some really
fine nuanced singing. The Butterfly aria opens rather blandly but later
on she shows more true feeling. One of the best tracks is Torroba’s La
Petenera which offers glorious singing and fiery temperament. Here she
is impressive. Les Filles de Cadix is light and charming with a fine
sense for the rhythms. I don’t think Tosca as a character has quite
settled yet but vocally Byrne has the measure of Vissi d’arte. Stage
experience would deepen the reading, but though she has sung Marguerite the
Jewel aria just seems to be skimming the surface. There is no doubt, however,
that she has the technical qualifications.
Mimi’s aria from the first act of La Bohème finds Byrne at her very
best. This is a touching portrait of the seamstress, whose fragility is well
depicted. The aria from Goyescas, not heard in recital very often,
which is a pity, was an inspired choice and besides Ms Byrne’s confident and
beautiful singing one can also admire the orchestra with lush strings and
fine woodwind. Nedda’s aria from Pagliacci is another winner, beautiful
and with brilliant top notes.
The bonus track, For Eternity, was written by Croatian Andrej Babic,
who has composed many Eurovision songs since 2003 and is renowned for having
written songs for four different countries, including Portugal. This one has
a beautiful melody and Celine Byrne sings it well and with feeling. I can’t
help feeling, though, that the finale, with chorus and orchestra is a bit
over the top – but this is part of the genre.
As an interlude (tr. 8) we get a purely orchestral number, Puccini’s Crisantemi,
which originally was written for string quartet. With double basses added
for deeper sonorities it works well also for string orchestra.
The recording is fully worthy of the occasion and the orchestra play well.
Celine Byrne has a fine voice and she employs it with taste and musicality.
With some more stage experience she will find even more expressive means but
already she has a great deal to offer also as an interpreter.
Göran Forsling
A fine voice employed with taste and musicality.