Customer Reviews

Bidu Sayao: Opera Arias and Brazilian Folksongs

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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.

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!

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.

L gave this recording to a female friend in California many years ago. The last time we met, she says she listens to it every single day, for the sheer beauty and profundity of this composition (music by Villalobos) as well as for the superb artistry of the singer, Bidu Sayao. God bless you... Juan Lucas

This album contains some of the greatest singing of the century in this particular voice category . Sayao had everything ---great voice, style, phrasing. The Villa-lobos has never been surpassed.

This is one CD that I never tire of, and play it often. I used to hear her recordings in my childhood, and it's like re-newing an old friendship with this excellent disk. I love "Bachianas Brasileras #5" most of all (and wonder how it would sound sung by a Counter-tenor?) However, her voice is marvelous, and you won't go wrong in buying it!

I first heard her voice on a Met compilation and became intrigued enough to buy this CD.
I love her voice...its so simple, unfussy and pure and yet so very unique. you know its her from the first few notes on.
I love her Manon, probably more so than Sills or Fleming. Her voice reminds me of De Los Angeles, but is different.
I'm glad I was introduced to this great, stylish and classy singer.

I'm not even close to an afficianado when it comes to opera. But I'm a musician, and I'd like to think I know good music when I hear it.

This is extremely good music!

I've only recently become aquainted with Bidu Sayao. I have to say that all the accolades I've read from the experts are obviously well deserved. There is a character of this singer that shines through time right to us. The recordings themselves are warm and pleasant, considering they were transfered from mono shellac sides from a bigone era.

There's something special about vintage recordings like this that it seems can never really be replicated in our time. They have an ethereal quality that seems to emanate from the soul of the age from whence they came. We are truly enriched when such musical treasures are this nicely restored and made available to us.

Excellent, amazing, recommend.

(excelente para conhecermos melhor uma das mais importantes e conhecidas sopramos de todo o mundo)

I was so delighted to discover (belatedly) this Sony digitally remastered CD of Bidú Sayão singing so many of the arias that I used to love--and then lost when the LP record went the way of the dodo. The sound on this CD, which includes arias from Gounod's "Romeo et Juliette" and "Faust" and chansons of the French répertoire as well as folksongs of Brazil, is full and clear.

For me, the highlights of this recording are the cantilena, "Bacchiana Brasiliera #5", and the arias from Massenet's "Manon," especially Mme Sayão's poignant, "Adieu, Notre Petite Table" from Act 2 of the opera. Her interpretation conveys Manon's momentary self-delusional sincerity, just before she abandons her first love, the aristocratic but impoverished Chevalier des Grieux, for the glittering and lucrative excitement of the Parisian demimonde.

Mme Sayão's interpretation of the former aria, which Villa-Lobos arranged especially for her, is both effortless and sublime--imagine humming in a high pitch, which ends in a rising octave interval, while still maintaining vocal purity. My fondness for the latter derives from seeing her, when I was a schoolgirl, as Manon in an unforgettable scintillating performance (with Giuseppe di Stefano as Des Grieux and Ezio Pinza as his father--what a cast!). When she sings "Profitons bien de la jeunesse . . . nous n'aurons pas toujours vignt ans!," ("Let's enjoy our youth . . . we shan't always be twenty."), I can still envision her in her shimmering white paniered gown with its rose satin bodice and overskirt, as I travel back in my mind to that night in the darkened Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium, when I fell in love with the opera and its principal singers. The true meaning of those words has come only with the hindsight of Time, as has the realisation of how privileged I was to be experiencing what was, essentially, once-in-a-lifetime theatrical magic.

I hope that this retrospect on the splendid career of Bidú Sayão brings you as much continued enjoyment as it does me.