Customer Reviews

Barbara Bonney sings Mozart ~ Great arias and duets with Bryn Terfel, Arleen Auger and many more

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

 

 

I consider Barbara Bonney to be the ultimate Mozart soprano, and that's it! Her beautiful and lyrical soprano is just perfect for the music. Her performance in Die Zauberflöte with Östman/Drottningholm is the best I have ever heard in that opera. The music of Mozart doesn't really require any Wagner-sopranos with huge vibrato and tasteless phrasing. No, it's more suitable for the lovely and brilliant sopranos like Barbara Bonney!

I bought this CD about a year and a half ago and play it all the time, but I do have to turn up the volume, especially in the car (which is a lousy place to listen to serious music anyway). I still prefer Bonney's "Deh vieni" to the other recordings I have, including Bartoli and Upshaw. I love the "Sull'aria," something omitted from a Nozze Highlights CD (also featuring Bonney) I also own. If you like Bonney, you'll probably love the recording.

I don't know which Mozart one of the previous reviewer was professing to "worship" but it certainly isn't one I was raised listening to.
Turn up the hearing aid, if you must, but leave your Wagnerian tastes at home when you approach these Mozart roles being sung properly by the proper voice.

This cd has excellent recorded sound, and Barbara Bonney's light, sweet soprano is heard at its freshest. For young sopranos studying Mozart roles, it would be a valuable purchase. Bonney sounds most at home in the Magic Flute selections where her obvious love for the music is really apparent. I give only 4 stars however, because I personally prefer a bigger voice in these roles like Swenson. But this should not deter Mozart and light soprano fans as diva prefences are all a matter of personal taste.

I read all the reviews and since they were all favourable I bought this CD. Alas! I was deeply disappointed. All these laudatory comments turned out to be just pompous array of praises. Barbara Bonney has clear,but weak voice. She is whispering something indistinctly, not singing. I worship Mozart and still I was not moved by this rendition.I wonder whether at a real performance the audience in the rear seats ever hear what she is singing.These Mozart's arias are really great but they must be performed by great artists as well. A diva possessed of deep ,clear,strong voice will do the job perfectly.