THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 12, 1995 TAG: 9511100089
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Music Review
SOURCE: BY PAUL SAYEGH, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY BREAK
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
JUST IN TIME for opera season are several recent opera and vocal CDs featuring an impressive group of younger singers, most of whom are just beginning to gain attention.
Conductor Riccardo Muti figures in two new productions, both of them taken from live performances, and both on the EMI label. Bellini's ``Norma,'' considered one of the most challenging soprano roles in all Italian opera, features the little-known British soprano Jane Eaglen. She has an impressive, rich voice that can easily manage Bellini's beautiful yet technically demanding music. In addition, she appears to have the command and authority a Norma needs to bring the opera to life. The edge to her high notes may be more the fault of the recording, from the 1994 Ravenna Festival, than an inherent flaw in her voice. Her colleagues are merely adequate, but Muti conducts with an understanding of Bellini that adds to the success of the performance.
Muti also leads Mozart's penultimate opera ``La Clemenza di Tito,'' recorded at the Salzburg Festival in 1988. Neglected for years, the opera is increasingly performed and well-received by audiences. Mozart's music manages to transcend the static, formulaic plot about an attempt to kill the Roman Emperor Titus. The stars of this performance are two Americans, soprano Carol Vaness as the scheming Vitellia, and mezzo-soprano Delores Ziegler in the ``trouser role'' of Annius, Vitellia's suitor. Muti's conducting is lively and makes the most of the drama.
A wonderful recording of Borodin's sprawling ``Prince Igor'' has been released by Philips. This comes from St. Petersburg's Kirov Opera, and features conductor Valery Gergiev and several of Russia's best singers. Especially memorable are mezzo Olga Borodina and soprano Galina Gorchakova, but the whole cast is excellent. The orchestra and chorus contribute a thrilling rendition of the ``Polovtsian Dances,'' whose main melody was popularized in the Broadway musical Kismet as ``Stranger in Paradise.''
Finally, there are some solo recitals worthy of note. Baritone Thomas Hampson, outstanding in his Hampton recital last season, has recorded a fascinating disc of German opera arias. As usual with Hampson, there are equal parts scholarship and pleasure to be had, especially in the arias by Korngold, Wagner, and the forgotten Franz Schreker (EMI).
Bulgarian mezzo Vesselina Kasarova sings three French song cycles on her RCA disc, with the ORF Symphony under Pinchas Steinberg. She has an attractive voice with a distinctive quick vibrato, and she sings with feeling, especially in Berlioz's ``Nuits d'ete'' (Summer Nights). In Ravel's ``Sheherazade'' and Chausson's ``Poeme de l'amour et de la mer,'' she is not as specific to the text. by CNB