Customer Reviews

Ying Huang / James Conlon, London Symphony Orchestra

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album is strictly for those sensitive to beautiful tone. As far as I'm concerned, there is no singer who can outmatch Ying Huang's voice quality. Her singing is pure, from the heart, and her variations in phrasing and tone make this a CD I could listen to forever. She is certainly complemented by the wonderful musicians on this album too! I suppose the academics would scoff, but in my humble opinion Ying Huang is a wonderful musician whose singing has taught me a lot. My recommendation: buy this C.D. and a good pair of headphones. Listen to it late at night. Wait for the goosebumps.

I'm saddened by the nitpicky nature of some of the opera "critics" who've chimed in on this CD. Like many things artistic, it is easy to criticize, especially on technical details. As a professional musician (pop, not classical) I have worked hard to hear the essence and emotion of a performance, and not to get bogged down in trying to make myself feel superior.

Case in point: I first heard "O! Mio Babbino Caro" on my infant daughter's show, Classical Baby on HBO. The visual is an animated cow singing to a bull-shaped constellation. Despite the triviality of the image, I found myself weeping every time the segment came on. I don't care for opera much (I prefer instrumental classical music by far) but there was something about that voice and that performance that touched me. I did some online research and finally found this wonderful track. I listened to Callas, Fleming, Brightman, and many others while searching and found them all lacking (no disrespect intended). Maybe it's Huang's youth that captures the subject matter so profoundly (I read the translation, and wept again at the emotional content). Maybe that's just a really compelling cartoon cow, but if a piece of music in a foreign language in an unfamiliar genre can touch my heart like this does, I'm a believer.

Don't give in to the negativity and snobbishness of some of the other reviews. Listen as a child does, without prejudice and with no axe to grind.

Ying Huang truly has a beautiful voice. With a bit more training her high notes could be a little more secure. The selections on this album aren't strictly "bel canto" per se, but still it's a wonderful CD.

After her impressive rendition of Cio-Cio-San in Frédéric Mitterrand's filmed opera `Madame Butterfly' (1995), Ying Huang released her first solo opera album, with James Conlon conducting the wonderful London Symphony Orchestra. Huang's voice of exquisite sound and sweet timbre, along with her well refined crafting, brought me special joys throughout the listening. For a young voice like Huang's, this album is a selection with quite some range that displays her excellent bel canto and ineffably beautiful lyricism. Besides the superb quality of her voice, her singing is with unique grace, in the dramatic lines as well as in the coloraturas. Introduced by Huang are also two Chinese songs, "A Little Path", which is a folk song, and "I Live at the Source of the Yangtze River", which is an old song with lyric from an ancient Chinese verse.

Listening to such singing is a heavenly feeling. Huang's soprano might be a small instrument, but it is very flexible and exquisite, and she will do very well in recital. I will be very much looking forward to hearing more from her.

Ying Huang has a pleasant, silvery voice and a good coloratura technique. She is fairly young on this recital, I believe only 26. She shows signs of becoming a real musician and artist. I found her coloratura to be pleasant, but not spectacular in the Sutherland and Sills mode. Her biggest advantage is her pure, silvery voice. She has nice Italian diction, but it needs to be projected more. I found her "La Sonnambula" aria to be nicely sung, definitely better than Renée Fleming's overdone version on her overrated "Bel Canto" disc. The ornaments Huang uses are the traditional ones and she tosses them off fairly easily. Her trill definitely needs work. I found her to be at her best in the comic arias, especially the "Un Ballo" aria and the "Don Pasquale" aria. "Una voce poco fa" contains nice coloratura. As for her high notes, they are soft and pure. They do need to be a bit more secure, but at least she hits them. Her staccati need a bit more work in "Caro nome". The last part of this aria is cut. This is the part that includes Gilda's final trill and the diminuendo with which she leaves the stage. I found the Puccini selections sung well, but she needs to add more drama to them. In fact, she needs to work more on characterization overall. She is young, so she will probably improve with time. I found the Mandarin-language selections delightful. This disc can be enjoyed for Huang's pleasant voice, developing musicality, and fairly good coloratura.

This CD is probably one of the best additions to my classical collection. There are many great opeatic artists both past and present, but after listening to these renditions bu Ying Huang, I can honestly say that she will be rated amongst the greatest!!
This CD is a well worth purchase for those who enjoy classical music in particular, Opera.

A couple yeras ago, before she was famous, one of her vocal teacher criticized that her voice needed more training. Unforturnately, I didn't see the difference between then and now. Most of time, the natural beauty in her voice covered up her technical shortage, but she reached high notes, the inperfection is obvious.

In spite of all, she is still a wonderful soprano.

This great selection of pieces really showcases the beautiful and enticing voice of Ying Huang. It's a wonderful CD, and I haven't stopped listening to it since the day I bought it!!

The selections of of the arias are perfect to show off Ying Huang's silvery beautiful voice. Pleasant to hear, but her high notes are not so secure. If you really want to experience what truly beautiful belcanto arias are all about, check out "belcanto" album of "Sumi Jo", world's most exquisite coloratura queen.

She has the most beautiful voice I had ever heard, so emotional so touching and excellent in technical performance.