Customer Reviews

Art of Cecilia Bartoli

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Cecilia Bartoli has been around since the 1980s, and her career has been nothing short of spectacular. This CD provides a great introduction to her world, but most Bartoli lovers will already have most of the tracks on this CD. This CD opens with 2 extracts from her recording of Rinaldo, with David Daniels in the title role. She gives a moving performance of Lascia ch'io pianga, and a delightful rendition of the duettino with David Daniels. The CD then moves on to excerpts from Cecilia's most popular album to date - The Vivaldi Album. This album consists of mainly world premiere recordings, and the 3 samples we get here show Cecilia's ability to move, amazing coloratura ability, and the skill to popularize rare pieces. Indeed, the next samples, from the Gluck CD, also contains world premiere recordings, and we get to hear 'Di questa cetra in seno' beautifully sung, and also 'Se mai senti', which is devastatingly heartbreaking. Of course, we get a large portion of Mozart, a composer central to her career, and Cherubino's 2 arias, are delightfully sung, as is 'Un moto di gioia'. 2 duets with Bryn Terfel are also featured, from their album Cecilia and Bryn. Rossini is another composer associated strongly with her, and she show off her vocal acrobatics and extraordinary range in 3 excerpts, from Le Cenerentola, Il Barbiere, and Il Turco in Italia. Lastly, there are 2 previously unreleased duets with Pavarotti, which are more commercial, but they are fun nonetheless.

Overall, this is a great introduction to Cecilia and her singing, though if you are already a fanatic you will not find much new here.

'The art of Cecilia Bartoli' provides the listener with a beautiful compilation of several of her recordings. The composers whose works Ms. Bartoli performs here are: Haendel, Vivaldi, Gluck, Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti and Verdi. She's accompanied by various orchestras and conductors and the male soloists parts are taken by David Daniels (Haendel), Bryn Terfel (Mozart/Rossini), Roberto de Candia (Rossini) and Luciano Pavarotti (Donizetti/Verdi). Cecilia Bartoli's joy in music and dedication to the composers is evident throughout. She's the luminous center of this disc which is beautifully packaged with texts, translations and photographs. Her warm, low voice brings out every nuance and colour of the composers works. She's intense, passionate and achingly beautiful in the pieces by Haendel, Gluck and Vivaldi (which demand much from the singer and listener).

She gives us further a warm, tender and curious Cherubino in 'Voi che sapete' from Mozarts 'Le Nozze di Figaro'. The duets with Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel were taken from Mozarts 'Don Giovanni' and 'Die Zauberfloete' are excellent, especially the 'Pa-pa-pa-pa' duet from 'Die Zauberfloete'. Cecilia Bartoli and Bryn Terfel are brilliantly matched as song partners and together they bring out every shade and nuance in these songs. It's a true delight to hear such gorgeous voices together on one disc.

Ms. Bartoli's Rossini is beautiful, warm and she brings out all of the pathos. But the last two pieces by Donizetti and Verdi were not my cup of tea, although Ms. Bartoli's contribution to those pieces is alert, intense and enthusiastic. Her partner here was Luciano Pavarotti and I am not an admirer of his voice. He's adequate and sounds if he's singing these pieces for the umpteenth time. Further I would have liked a bit more Haendel, Gluck or Mozart in this collection.

Despite some reservations towards Donizetti, Verdi and Luciano Pavarotti the listener gets a beautiful Cecilia collection, which I cannot but recommend very highly!

Cecilia is astoudingly beautiful in this CD. Her voice is so enchanting and perfect that it is easy to forget sometimes that the sound is coming from a human being. Even if you don't usually like opera singers, I recommend this CD as an introduction to music that will transport you and even perhaps make you swoon.

As in her other albums, Bartoli has released a beautiful compilation of lesser known arias and songs. Her coloring is exceptional and her softer higher notes are very touching. She may not posses the big operatic voice that many expect from an "opera singer", but she possesses something more important- a unique sound and love for the music she sings. If you want an album you can play in your home without hurting your ears, this is an album for you. Brava to Cecilia!

This is a fabulous album!!! Her arias by Handel, Gluck, Mozart, and Rossini are unbelievable. Her and Bryn Terfel sound great together, especially on the "Dun'que io son" from Il Barbiere di Siviglia. The Handel duet from Rinaldo, featuring the acclaimed countertenor David Daniels is brilliant!! I, however, do not care for the duets with Pavarotti. Her voice is too light to sing Verdi. Pavarotti's voice is also not what it used to be. I'm still rating it with five stars, because despite a couple of bad duets with Pavarotti, the album is a wonderful collection of Cecilia Bartoli.

I am conquered completely by her performance.Her voice, techniques,abilities,feelings,everything of her performance shows she is the best,unbeatable and unique.I am just wondering if there is anyone else on the earth can perform those pieces like Vivaldi's,which need terrible techniques.

She is a true artist I love this record as much as all ther others.I am new to opera and her recording have help me see an art form I thought was old hat and not very inventive.Through her recording I have found a wonderful singer and some of most beautiful music I have ever heard.

Soprano Cecilia Bartoli garnered international acclaim with her first recording fourteen years ago and has continued to build on that success. This CD is a sampler of her recorded work over those years, supplemented by two new duets with Luciano Pavarotti. Ranging from the languid sorrow of Handel's Lascia ch'io pianga to the good cheer of Verdi's Libiamo ne' lieti calici, these operatic duets and arias are a wonderful cross-section of Bartoli's career to date, demonstrating her remarkable range of emotional expression.

Bartoli is a master of technique, as shown in her astounding performance of Vivaldi's frenetic show-stopper Anch'il mar par che sommerga. She also has a glorious timbral command, darkening her tone color to superb effect in that same composer's Gelido in ogni vena. This is one of the highlights of the disc, as Bartoli adds an eerie breathy quality to her voice, singing at the softest possible dynamic level, exactly matching the effect of the text "I feel my blood like ice coursing through every vein./The shade of my lifeless son afflicts me with terror."

Although the majority of pieces are from Bartoli's favored Baroque and Classical period, she also dips into the Romantic era, including works by the Italians Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Giuseppe Verdi, although the inclusion of these last two works seems to be at least partially for the marketing strength of Pavarotti's name. Most of the music will be unfamiliar to all but the most devout of operatic connoisseurs, but the "greatest hits" format should draw a wider audience. Only the Verdi and Mozart pieces are likely to be well-known. Certainly the limpid beauty of Bartoli's voice, the artistry of her interpretation, and her unsurpassed technical skill makes this disc worth owning.

As in her other albums, Bartoli has released a beautiful compilation of lesser known arias and songs. Her coloring is exceptional and her softer higher notes are very touching. She may not posses the big operatic voice that many expect from an "opera singer", but she possesses something more important- a unique sound and love for the music she sings. If you want an album you can play in your home without hurting your ears, this is an album for you. Brava to Cecilia!

I don't understand why Cecilia Bartoli is loved for a lot of people. In a many cases, there are high notes with estridence, gasping, and also the vibrato is excesive . If you want to enjoy a great Rossini's opera, listen Maria Callas and Victoria de los Angeles.