Customer Reviews

Dame Janet Baker - Philips & Decca Recordings, 1961-1979 (Original Masters)

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For those of us who grew up on Janet Baker's recordings (and were lucky enough to hear her "live" as well), the sound of her voice and her singular artstic personality - British restraint coupled with fierce emotional and spiritual commitment - are indelibly imprinted in our minds and hearts. The closest current equivalent is Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, another superb artist who has charted her own course, and not surprisingly there is some overlap of repertoire, in the music of J.S. Bach, of course, but also Berlioz's Didon and Beatrice, Handel's Ariodante and Britten's Phaedra (composed for Baker).
This wonderful compilation is complementary to EMI's 2-CD "The Very Best of Janet Baker" -- no overlap of repertoire whatsoever. Unlike that set, which focused on concert repertoire (with orchestra or piano) there's a generous sampling here of Baker's operatic roles including Handel, Mozart, Purcell, Rameau, Gluck, and Britten. Also welcome is "Phaedra," one of Britten's strongest late works. And it's good to have the Berlioz: "Cleopatre" and "Herminie" complete, the big aria from "Beatrice et Benedict." (Why EMI included nothing from her recording of the last 2 scenes of "Les Troyens" is unfathomable.) The wide time-span allows us to hear Baker's voice in all its youthful, "sappy" warmth, as well as in its artistic maturity (though truth to tell she was pretty much a complete artist from the start). There are a few signs of wear in later items, nothing serious, in fact rather less than I remembered. I could have done with fewer of the "Arie Amorose" in favor of more cuts from her Gluck LP, which I believe has never been issued complete on CD, but that's just personal preference. The focus here is entirely on orchestrally accompanied works (or, in the case of the marvelous early disc of Ravel, Chausson & Delage songs, with chamber ensemble) so for Baker the supreme interpreter of English, German and French song you'll need to go elsewhere (the EMI has a fair sampling, especially of her Schubert). But everything here is indispensible.

I suggest you get this. And If you love Bartoli's hit album "If you love me" (AKA "Arie Antiche" in many countries) which features voice and piano only, you will obviously get an altogether different experience with CD1 of this set: many of the same songs but completely different vocal interpretations. Neville Marriner and the ASMITF are superb (as usual) and produce some lovely grooves that make the music dance in a way that the Bartoli disc can't.

I can't add anything else to the excellent first review. Mainly just wanted to give a second opinion as to how good these recordings are.