Bel Canto - M'Bilia Bel

Advantages: Virtuosic operatic vocalism, unusual repertoire, mad scenes...
Disadvantages: Fleming's voice is maybe not best suited for this...

...Bel Canto - she sure can belto If there is any area in classical music which polarises opinion more than singers and singing, then I have yet to come across it. I've been in opera performances where the conductor has had to halt the show after an aria, because of one portion of the audience booing the singer, whilst the other tried to drown out their boos with cheers... Or I remember another occasion in a very elite Viennese concert-hall where two very well dressed gentlemen came to blows after one made "an insulting remark" about the other's favourite soprano. People can get pretty vocal and worse about their favourite or least favourite vocalists. I think the other big problem is that a singer can be great in some repertoire but then take a nose-dive in other areas and this is one factor in this particular CD. The human... Read review

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Advantages: In original French! Kasarova, Vargas, Furmansky
Disadvantages: They don't pronounce French well. A bit under-rehearsed

...quirks into interpretative assets. Her French is not idiomatic but isn't terrible either. The Mexican tenor Ramon Vargas in the role of Fernand out shines just about everybody else in this recording, however. His is a gloriously gorgeous and clear as a bell lyric tenor voice. Beautifully even through out the range (and with a real PING too!). It is a youthful and majestic voice deployed by a very musical artist who handles Fernand's obnoxiously high tessitura (average pitch) with ease. Intelligent phrasing in surprisingly good French, attentive to nuances in the music. I listened in awe to the ease of his rendition of 'Oui, ta voix m'inspire' that ends Act I. Senor Vargas surely is one of the great bel canto tenori. In the company of such magnificent performance by the two leads, the rest of the cast is quite over-shadowed. The British... Read review

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Advantages: Kasarova's personal touch. Virtuosic without showing off
Disadvantages: She doesn't keep singing forever

...This CD is a compilation of 10 operatic arias for the mezzo soprano voice. The line up ranges from the Baroque opening number to the Classical Mozart to the late Romantic Bel Canto Donizetti opera numbers. All are gloriously sung by the Bulgarian mezzo Vesselina Kasarova, and beautifully accompanied by maestro Friedrich Haider and the Munich Radio Orchestra/ Chorus of the Bavarian Radio. Vesselina Kasarova is known for her multi-coloured deep and melancholy voice (a very distinctly identifiable one at that!) and her interpretative intensity. Every note that she sings is a part of the story she is telling. Her florid coloratura (virtuoso decoration of the main melodic line) is legendary, and yet they are never gratuitous. This is a dream singer for anyone who likes drama and theatrically involved singing..... and she doesn't compromize... Read review

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