Gaetano Donizetti ( 1797 - 1848)
Janet Baker, Rosalind Plowright, David Rendall
John Tomlinson, Alan Opie, Angela Bostock
English National Opera Orchestra and Chorus
dir: Charles Mackerras
Chandos (1999) DDD 20bit Remastered 2 CDs
(Very good sound)
Recorded live at the London Coliseum, April 1982
[flac & cue, cover, inlays,booklet & disc scans]
I confess that I don’t like opera other than in its original language but I make an exception in cases like these where an artist of the caliber of Janet Baker is the protagonist. The English singer is really exquisite and musical in everything she does and here she achieves a wonderful recreation in a very dignified and contained way, I would say British as it was after all the real character. The cast is good and beautifully directed by Mackerras.
Review:
"Dame Janet in excelsis"
"While I have no great attachment to opera in English, especially since the advent of surtitles coupled with the recognition that composers had the rhythms and stresses of the original in mind when they set it to music, I make honourable exceptions for especially distinguished performances from the 70's and 80's featuring Janet Baker, whose voice appears ever more resplendent from the perspective of the time elapsed since her retirement.
Dame Janet was in her late forties when she sang the series of performances from which this recording has been assembled, and obviously still in her vocal prime, even though shortly after she chose to quit the stage. She gives a really touching and dignified performance. Her coloratura is liquid, her top A's brilliant and secure, her high pianissimo notes exquisitely floated - including an F sharp in her Act III aria, "O deign to hear to hear my prayer", sustained for 16 seconds, rising to a top A - and her diction, despite some absurd assertions in previous reviews, pellucid. She enjoys first-rate support from her co-singers: bright and virile-voiced tenor David Rendall before his vibrato became intrusive, John Tomlinson before his bass became coarse and rocky, neat baritone Alan Opie and a huge-voiced Rosalind Plowright, still in her soprano phase, her voice no more wild and intense than her character and music demand.
The digital sound is really very good for a live recording and there is no more coughing than is normal at the ENO, which usually caters for refugees from TB wards but is not so badly afflicted here. A full libretto is supplied but the English is so clear it is hardly required." www.amazon.com Ralph Moore