Sumi Jo - Virtuoso Arias ~ Verdi, Rossini, Donizetti, Meyerbeer

Giuseppe Verdi (Artist), Gioachino Rossini (Artist), Gaetano Donizetti (Artist), Giacomo Meyerbeer (Artist), Léo Delibes (Artist), Vincenzo Bellini (Artist), Richard Strauss (Artist), Leonard Bernstein (Artist), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Artist), Young-Ha Yoon (Artist), Paolo Olmi (Artist), Sumi Jo (Artist), Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra (Artist), Anne Maugue (Artist), Marius Constant (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 7, 1995)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Erato
• ASIN: B000005EDE
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #51,850 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #28 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Classical (c.1770-1830) > Vocal & Song > General AAS
  • #76 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Romantic (c.1820-1910) > Vocal & Song

Track Listings

1. Il Barbiere di Siviglia: 'Una voce poco fa' (Rosina)

2. La Sonnambula (Act 2): 'Ah non credea mirarti' (Amina)

3. Lakme (Act 2, Scene 10): The Bell Song (Lakme)

4. Rigoletto (Act 1, Scene 13): 'Gualtier Maide...caro nome' (Gilda)

5. Giacomo Meyerbeer: 'Ombres legeres' (Dinora)

6. Gaetano Donizetti: The Mad Scene (Lucie)

7. Adriadne Auf Naxos: Zerbinetta's Aria

8. Leonard Bernstein: 'Glitter And Be Gay' (Cunegonde)

9. Die Zauberflote: 'Der Holle Rache...' (Queen of the Night)

10. Boribat

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Virtuoso Opera Star! The Sumi Jo Album To Own!, October 21, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Sumi Jo - Virtuoso Arias ~ Verdi, Rossini, Donizetti, Meyerbeer (Audio CD)

Korean soprano Sumi Jo has established herself as a remarkable and gifted lyric coloratura soprano in recent years. She has a vast following wherever she goes- whether she is touring Europe, performing in American opera houses or singing in her native Korea. Sumi Jo's good looks, winning personality and acting abilities add to her allure. She's almost the equivalent of Beverly Sills in many ways. Her legato and coloratura technique is thrilling. Her vocal embellishments in any coloratura role is exceptional. Plus, as mentioned, she can really act. I first had the privelege to watch Sumi Jo in a live performance at the Los Angeles Opera. She was performing as Olympia, the doll in Offenbach's "The Tales Of Hoffman." In addition to her vibrant coloratura roulades and passages, she was hilarious and easily won the audience. Among her many roles, she has performed as Rosina (Barber Of Seville), Queen of the Night (Mozart's Magic Flute and long considered her signature role), Lucia Di Lammermoor, Gilda from Rigoletto, Zerbinetta, Lakme, and various other bel canto heroines of Donizetti and Verdi as well as her touching performance as Mimi in Puccini's La Boheme. Sumi Jo has made it as a successful recording artist as well.These days, an opera singer with huge star power cannot dismiss the temptation of recording albums, sometimes in coloraboration with other singers or contemporary rock or pop singers. This album features the best of Sumi Jo in appropriately virtuoso arias from bel canto operas. Especially dazzling is her Zerbinetta and Lakme. I urge any fan of Sumi Jo to get this album. Viva the diva.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than just a shallow coluratura, August 20, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Sumi Jo - Virtuoso Arias ~ Verdi, Rossini, Donizetti, Meyerbeer (Audio CD)

Although I love the music of the coluratura soprano one finds too often that the singers, though flexible and wide in range, do not have emotional or tonal depth. Sumi Jo proves an exception. She has one of the most delightful voices on record and produces some stupendous sounds in the heights of her range. One might mistake her for a wind instruments at times!

I disagree with a previous reviewer who argued that the songs are less than satisfying. Here we see one of the most beautiful selections of music available. Although it is true that some are not so well executed as that giant of coluratura (and any other genre) soprano-singing the great Joan Sutherland or as effortless in the heights there is a fine selection. Sumi Jo is of a different ilk to Sutherland and makes a masterpiece of 'Der Hoelle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen.'

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Acrobatic singing, April 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Sumi Jo - Virtuoso Arias ~ Verdi, Rossini, Donizetti, Meyerbeer (Audio CD)

I love coloratura singers and I find that Sumi Jo is one of the best... in this CD we can listen to different kinds of repertoire: from mozart to bernstein to a folk korean song.
in each track she shows her amazing skill in high and clean notes. If you buy ths cd you won't regret: sometimes you will take her voice for a flute for she is incredibly clean and effortless. In Lakmé aria you will listen at the end the best E sovracuto ever heard: it's clean, it's regular in the "vibrato", it starts and ends in the exact moment it should... wonderful. Glitter and be gay it's astonishing: it seems like she never stops climbing on higher and higher!!! Maybe queen of night's aria is a little bit slower than in other records and may sound less incisive, but it's always a pleasure listening to the perfect acrobatic singing of Ms Jo. With Natalie Dessay (who is even higher than Sumi, but less clear) Sumi is the best coloratura soprano of our times, and this CD shows her ability!