One of the more fabulous coloratura sopranos currently on scene is 36-year old Diana Damrau, Born in Günzburg an der Donau, Germany. Her career really started to blossom after the turn of this century, though she has been quite active professionally since 1995. For the inauguration of her EMI/Virgin contract she has chosen a comparative program featuring Mozart, Salieri, and Vincenzo Righini (1756-1812), a Bolognese composer who enjoyed marked but limited success during his lifetime.
This recital is, in a word, brilliant. The vocal fireworks just keep on coming, and when Ms. Damrau gets a chance to breathe a little we also get to enjoy her marvelous musicality and sensual characterizations of some of these roles. Hearing the Queen of the Night’s two arias from the Magic Flute back-to-back is a luxury never afforded on disc as far as I know, and she is more than mistress of the task. Another eye-opener is hearing Salieri’s music intertwined with Mozart’s. Though Cecelia Bartoli’s relatively recent Salieri album did much to bring his star to the fore, hearing him alongside his competitor shows much of his music to be first rate and equally as effective as Mozart’s, Amadeus notwithstanding. I have heard a bit of Salieri before, and I must be honest when I say I was singularly unimpressed. Perhaps I was listening to the wrong stuff (he was very prolific) as these arias here are quite enticing, superbly crafted, and among the finest of the genre.
The period band Le Cercle de l’Harmonie play great, sounding like they are not a period band, so complete is the mastery of their instruments. This terrific-sounding release is an album not to be missed, surely one of the best recital albums we will hear this year.
TrackList:
SALIERI: Cublai, gran Khan dei Tartari – “Fra I barbari sospetti”
RIGHINI: Il natal d’Apollo – “Ove son? Qual’aure io spiro”
SALIERI: L’europa riconosciuta – “Numi, respiro”
RIGHINI: Il natal d’Apollo – “Ombra dolente”
MOZART: Magic Flute – “O zittre nicht”
MOZART: Magic Flute – “De Holle Rache”
SALIERI: Cublai, gran Khan dei Tartari – D’un insultante orgoglio”
MOZART: Lucia Silla – “In un instante”
SALIERI: Der Rauchfangkehrer – “Basta, vincesti”
SALIERI: Semiramide – “Sento l’amica speme”
MOZART: “Basta, vincesti”
SALIERI: L’europa riconosciuta – “Quando piu irato freme”
SALIERI: La finta scema: “Se spiegar potessi appieno”
— Steven Ritter
