Bidu Sayao: Opera Arias and Brazilian Folksongs [Original recording remastered]

Bidu Sayao (Composer), Heitor Villa-Lobos (Composer), Charles Gounod (Composer), Jules Massenet (Composer), Reynaldo Hahn (Conductor), Henri Duparc (Conductor), Claude Debussy (Conductor), Maurice Ravel (Conductor), Charles Koechlin (Performer), Ernest Moret (Performer), Francisco Ernani Braga (Artist), Fausto Cleva (Artist), Pietro Cimara (Artist), Erich Leinsdorf (Artist), Paul Breisach (Artist), Leonard Rose (Artist), Milne Charnley (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Charles Koechlin, Ernest Moret
• Conductor: Reynaldo Hahn, Henri Duparc, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel
• Composer: Bidu Sayao, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Charles Gounod, Jules Massenet
• Audio CD (October 1, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000029PG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #90,440 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #1 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Divas > Sayao, Bidu
  • #36 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Vocal Non-Opera > Chansons
  • #41 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Featured Performers, A-Z > Q to T

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Bidú Sayão's silvery, impeccably tuned voice was small in size, but rich in nuance, shading, and emotion. Her recording of the Villa-Lobos Bachiana Brasileira No. 5 is justly famous, unmatched for lightness and sensuality. Few have dashed off the Jewel Song from Faust with similar insouciance or imbued the last phrases of Manon's "Adieu , notre petite table" as touchingly as Sayão does here. Her French song interpretations glow with charm and style, and a previously unreleased snippet from Ravel's L'enfant et les sotilèges makes one regret she never recorded the entire role, Sony's transfers are more lifelike and three dimensional than previous issues. A delectable disc. --Jed Distler

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unjustly forgotten diva's breadth and style, January 8, 2002

By 

Jay Dickson (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Bidu Sayao: Opera Arias and Brazilian Folksongs (Audio CD)

Bidu Sayao is probably best-known today for the famous recording of the Hector Villa-Lobos piece that opens this disc--which is a tragedy, since this piece (though exquisite) shows only one side of her vocal artistry. Although her performance on the Villa-Lobos is quite keening and melancholy, Bidu Sayao was best-known during the height of her career for her command of the French repertoire, which usually called for great charm and flirtatiousness . Indeed, on most of the beautiful arias from french operas she sings here she's asked to celebrate her beauty and her adorableness--and this was made all the easier because Sayao *was* beautiful and adorable. Moreover, she had exquisite phrasing and control, and was a superb interpreter of the coloratura repertoire. There may never have been a better Manon than Sayao, and she performs no less than four of the great arias massenet wrote for this role. In each one you can recognize the same character, and yet they display gorgeously the different moods Sayao could so subtly convey: from the silly giddiness of the arrival aria to the misplaced regret of "Voyons, Manon," to the touching pathos of "Adieu, notre petite table" and finally to the brilliant confidence of the famous Gavotte.

Sayao had a relatively small voice, but it was often said of her that despite this one could easily hear her from the very back of the old Met, even during a chorus, so careful and unique was her phrasing and style. You can really hear this on this terrific cd.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most charming voice you will ever hear!, July 19, 2004

By 

Ygor (Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bidu Sayao: Opera Arias and Brazilian Folksongs (Audio CD)

Bidu Sayão is considered the best Brazilian soprano ever and certainly one of the most taltented singers of the 20th century. Do you want to know why? This disc contains some important selections of Sayão's wonderful artistry. It includes arias and songs from French repertoire, in which Sayão is even in our days considered the most perfect example of French singing and style, some lovely Brazilian folksongs and her legendary recording of the Cantilena of Bachianas Brasileiras no. 5. It's a very good selection for every listener, since it shows Sayão's perfect vocal technique and sincere and moving interpretation. We have a joyful "Je veux vivre" as well as a heartbreaking "Adieu, notre petite table". Ah, but the true show here is her Bachianas Brasileiras. I'm absolutely sure you will never hear a better interpretation of this song! Sayão could sing from the most lyric parts and the most wonderful pianissimi to the most incredible coloraturas with no difficulty. Actually, she had exactly what I would call "perfect vocal technique", since it never, I mean, never fails. Her voice was small, but so carefully trained that it amazes me more than many big voices I heard. It's always pure, sweet and charming.

Dont' miss this singer who was maybe the best lyric soprano of the first half of the 20th century. If you are interested in listening to good music sung by a legendary voice, you really need to buy it!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the great vocal discs of the century, May 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Bidu Sayao: Opera Arias and Brazilian Folksongs (Audio CD)

Sayao was simply one ot the great singers of the century who was not given the opportunity to record her vast repetoire-- she was a great interpreter of the French song literature--was there a better singer of Debussy? She sang Lucia, Lakme, Zerbinetta --Bellini, Mozart, Verdi and Puccini so what we have is a small but precious souvenir.