Customer Reviews

Opera Gala

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

 

 

If you enjoy Alessandra Marc, then this CD is a must buy. She sings one of the most beautiful "Casta Diva"s I have ever heard. " Give Me My Robe" is a tour de force dramatic soprano piece which Marc delivers with power, intensity, and great beauty. Hold on your seats for the Strauss and Puccini, as she excells in both. To me she has one of the most beautiful true dramatic soprano voices of the century. It is dark, rich, gorgeous, powerful with a shimmering top that reminds one of Rysanek in her prime. Only lately has Alessandra developed good chest notes, which she shows off in her gorgeous Anna Bolena selection. Marc also seems to have one of the few really huge voices with records well, as I have heard her live and this comes close to the sound in a good house. I highly recommend this recording ! John

After hearing Ms. Marc two years ago in Turandot in Turin, Italy and after having heard this CD, I cannot wait to hear her once again at this Met in this season's Turandot. What a fantastic voice. The Strauss alone is reason enough to buy this CD. She has it all: power, beauty of tone and truly thoughtful singing. Why do we even bother with the laziness of Eaglen when we have a dramatic soprano like this around?

I am prejudiced, let me say. I think Alessandra Marc has one of the most gorgeous voices I have ever heard. Some don't enjoy her mannerisms. I'm afraid I do. She does not appear on every selection, and there are the occasional disappointments (the breaths she must take in the climax of Helena's Awakening Scene, for example). The Barber is spine-tingling. Makes me want to hear her do Andromache's Farewell! If her style doesn't appeal, fine. She gives me more pleasure than any opera singer since my beloved Leonie Rysanek. A big, sumptuous voice! It would rate five stars except for the fact that the orchestra/choal episodes are fine, not great. And Marc is not totally comfortable in all the repertoire.

I agree with the other reviewers: What a Barber! What a Turandot! A glorious sumptuous enormous voice and one of the great Elktras of our day. I have to disagree with the other reviewers on some points: The slow introductions of both the Norma and the Anna Bolena arias are indedd beautiful, but she completely fudges her way through the passagework towards the end of both arias.

It is not an issue of my not liking the style, or some concept of Bel Canto that is a matter of opinion as with Fleming's recent disc, it's simply a matter of not singing the correct notes. She is a great singer and a great artist. So why then perform repertoire that is not really suited to her? This album would have been better with some Wagner, more Strauss, or some more American opera.

As for the Chorus in the Norma excerpts: they perform the dotted rhtythms in "Casta Diva" as if it were a strict march and it all sounds terribly unnatural asif they had been dilled to death by an overzealous chorusmaster.

To sum up: 3 or 4 fantastic tracks, 2 or 3 that are in my opinion an insult to the audience, and some well-played overtures to fil it out, if you like listening to overtures

This disc contains three orchestral tracks, six aria tracks, and one choral track. It was recorded during three days of concerts in Dallas in September 1998. The recorded sound is clear and spacious.

The Dallas Symphony plays the three orchestral tracks well, but they do nothing spectacular with the music. Puccini's early work, Preludio Sinfonico, is quite beautiful and is worth a listen. The contribution from the Dallas Symphony Chorus in the "Guerra, guerra" chorus from "Norma" and in "In questa reggia" from "Turandot" is excellent. Their enunciation of the text is exemplary. However, they could have been better in "Casta diva".

The featured soloist is soprano Alessandra Marc. She has a huge, darkly-hued voice that can be easily heard over the orchestra. I, however, find the timbre of her voice to be heavy and matronly. Her rapid vibrato, magnified by her voice's large size, is quite annoying. Her diction is not ideally clear. Her consonants need to be crisper. Her voice has the right color for singing "Casta diva", but her breath control needs more work. It was quite disconcerting to hear such a heavy voice negotiating the delicate bel canto lines of this aria. She smudges the chromatic scales in the aria. Her small contribution to the "Guerra, guerra" chorus is not sufficiently angry. She is completely out of her element in Anna Bolena's Mad Scene. Her voice is far too heavy for Anna Bolena. In the Mad Scene recitative and aria, her dramatic commitment is non-existent. In "Al dolce guidami", she manages several respectable trills, but the final series of ascending trills is beyond her technically. The requisite nostalgia in this aria is just not there. In Helena's great aria, Marc sings well and enunciates the German competently, but her consonants need work. She is a native speaker of the language, English being her second language. In "Give me my robe", she is quite fine. She completely identifies with Cleopatra's character and she sings the high notes very securely. Her English is intermittently intelligible. Her rendition of "Vissi d'arte" starts with a scooping of pitch and is uneven in quality, but nothing goes terribly wrong. "In questa reggia" is given a powerful account, but she and the conductor are not always together.

This disc is definitely not a failure, but Ms. Marc could have been better.

Please trust me and buy this CD - Alessandra Marc, as another reviewer noted, blows the roof off this concert hall and gives us some of the most beautiful singing ever (I personally think she IS the most beautiful artist around, but to each his own). No matter what kind of voice you prefer, you are sure to find this album packed with emotion and glistening high notes and perfect artistry. Dude and/or dudette - buy this, listen carefully and attentively, and then you can thank me later. ;)

I am prejudiced, let me say. I think Alessandra Marc has one of the most gorgeous voices I have ever heard. Some don't enjoy her mannerisms. I'm afraid I do. She does not appear on every selection, and there are the occasional disappointments (the breaths she must take in the climax of Helena's Awakening Scene, for example). The Barber is spine-tingling. Makes me want to hear her do Andromache's Farewell! If her style doesn't appeal, fine. She gives me more pleasure than any opera singer since my beloved Leonie Rysanek. A big, sumptuous voice! It would rate five stars except for the fact that the orchestra/choal episodes are fine, not great. And Marc is not totally comfortable in all the repertoire.