My Name is Barbara [Import]

Roger Quilter (Composer), Charles Tomlinson Griffes (Composer), Aaron Copland (Composer), Benjamin Britten (Composer), Leonard Bernstein (Composer), Samuel Barber (Composer), Malcolm Martineau (Performer), Barbara Bonney (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Malcolm Martineau, Barbara Bonney
• Composer: Roger Quilter, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Aaron Copland, Benjamin Britten, Leonard Bernstein, et al.
• Audio CD (September 13, 2005)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Onyx Classics UK
• ASIN: B0009K33W8
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #258,261 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Where has the real Barbara gone?, March 24, 2006

By 

Ingrid Heyn "No man is an Iland, intire of it... (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Name is Barbara (Audio CD)

Oh dear.

Oh no.

I am a firm admirer of Barbara Bonney's exquisitely radiant voice. I own many of her recordings, and consider her singing of Faurè's great sacred work to be unsurpassed. Her recordings of Wolf & Strauss Lieder, of Mendelssohn's Lieder, of Mozart's Lieder - just beautiful. Her Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier - perhaps the loveliest interpretation of that role ever sung. She is an enchanting Susannah; her Pamina is the best I've ever heard. Her album of American songs - perfectly sung, beautiful.

So what has gone amiss here?

I truly, truly, truly hope this is a one-off bad recording. I hope with all my heart that it is not a harbinger of what is to continue to happen in Barbara Bonney's voice. It's the first time in which this lovely singer has disappointed me - and done so with such resounding thoroughness.

The vowels are so horribly distorted in the first few songs and in some of the other tracks that I was unable to work out what she was singing. The distortion affected the timbre badly. The actual sound was different to anything I've heard emanate from Ms Bonney's throat before. The songs on this CD were sung with a "hammy" approach that, again, is not representative of anything previously sung by Barbara Bonney.

In short, I am not able to recommend this recording. I bought it without checking beforehand, because it's Barbara Bonney. I am concerned that in future I will need to hear samples before purchasing her new recordings.

Please let this be an unrepresentative recording. Please let the Barbara the world has long loved appear again to delight us.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bonney remains artful even as her voice ages, December 3, 2007

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: My Name is Barbara (Audio CD)

Voices age in different ways, with negative results as you rise up the scale. Deep basso voices can remain intact well into a singer's sixties and beyond, but coloratura sopranos are rarely delightful past fifty. Barbara Bonney's lustrous voice has lost much of its bloom and gained some huskiness as well as a wobble under pressure. Also, the other reviewer here is right to point out how poorly Bonney pronounces the text in the Quilter songs; she swallows syllables everywhere else, too. But it's too harsh to deny this singer her acclaimed musicality and intelligence. This isn't the best of Bonney's solo recitals, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and welcome the chance to hear a major singer in the Britten songs, and a non-Anglo style in the Quilter.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A different-sounding Barbara Bonney, but I like it!, February 5, 2009

By 

Russell Low "Russell_L" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Name is Barbara (Audio CD)

As the others have noted, those accustomed to Bonney's slender, silvery voice from her previous recordings might be in for a shock here. On this most recent recording of hers, she sounds much darker, richer, and creamier than in anything she's done before--practically unrecognizable to anyone who's familiar with her earlier stuff. I have to say, though, that I really like what I've heard on this CD. I guess I'm one of the few who often found her sound too thin and lightweight most of the time, gorgeous though it was. For those who like fuller-sounding voices (as I do) and have avoided this gifted singer's recordings in the past, you might want to give this CD a try. Her musicality and musicianship are still very much in evidence, and this particular song repertoire is gorgeous and compelling.