Customer Reviews

Susan Graham - Mozart & Gluck Arias ~ Il tenero momento

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First my Dad dies unexpectedly and the September 11th attack happens two weeks later. A very unhappy and distressing time in my life. I spent much of this time alone at my parent's home sitting in their big garden on Sunday afternoons listening to this CD and drinking some wine. It helped me make sense of the world around me and my own world at the time - beauty and truth continue to exist even after the worst happenings. "Ô malheureuse Iphigénie!" perfectly reflected my feelings at the time.

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment is fabulous, expressive and colourful - you'd never want to hear this music on modern instruments again after hearing them! Susan Graham's voice is expressive and has much pathos - without ever becoming melodramatic.
The repertoire is well selected and there is a very tasteful blend of known and less well known arias. I hope that Ms Graham makes another CD with the OAE again soon! I could stand another disc like this one!

This disc is also the perfect disc to buy with the Cecilia Bartoli Gluck disc. Ms Bartoli tackles Gluck's earlier opera seria arias - while Ms Graham mainly delves into the later reform opera arias - as well as some Mozart. I cherish both discs.

Please consider this CD for your collection.

This CD has been at the top of my wish list for quite some time. I love everything Susan Graham does, but have been a little annoyed at the lack of the standard repertoire that she has recorded. Not because Hahn and Rorem are inferior, for those recordings are astonishing, but simply because she does these beautiful arias so very refreshingly. This record is a lovely survey of roles she has become famous for, and for roles tha she has not sung as of yet. Mozart's Cherubino arias have the elements of fear and excitement and tenderness that make the great Cherubinos so memorable. Gluck's Iphegenie en Tauride has three arias on this disc, and while they do not demonstrate a wide variety of ideas on their own, as a set they provide the listener with a sense of how the opera works. Parto, ma tu ben mio and Deh per questo are perfectly executed. The former in it's determination and the latter in it's pathos. Needless to say, all of these are flawlessly sung. The colorartura is flawless, the legato meltingly beautiful. Susan Graham's timbre is a rare find in these days of singers who sound exactly alike: truly distinctive. It is creamy, cinnomony, light, and warm; the perfect qualities for a lyric mezzo. I await her next disc with anticipation.

Susan Graham has most certainly reached her artistic prime and this CD is a welcome reminder of the fact. Everything about this artist smacks of class: the quality of her voice production - rich and devoid of rough edges, her diction (especially in French), her engagement with the characters she is playing and her appearance. Somehow, everything is all of a piece. She has long been a renowned Mozart singer and has more recently has moved into Gluck. French suits her and it's heartening to see her singing more Berlioz (she is slated to record Dido) and Massenet (her Charlotte is well-known). The Iphigenie she gives here was a big hit at the Salzburg festival last year and whilst it would be wonderful to hear a complete recording, the selection she gives here is plenty to be going on with.

There is very little to fault in the singing on this album - perhaps the odd perilously negotiated corner in the florid music (Orphee suffers perhaps most here) and a lack of complete security way below the stave are the only noticeable problems. Otherwise she produces long, seamless lines of real amplitude and shine most notably in "O Malheureuse Iphigenie". Generally these arias seem to work better than Orphee's, and perhaps that is a result of her stage experience in the former role. The Mozart is mostly excellent - Sesto's arias are aung with exemplary control, although on the other hand she sounds a little mature and feminine for Cherubino these days. Indeed, her voice has a distinct and striking feminine quality which sits oddly with the number of travesti roles she takes. The evidence perhaps suggests that she identifies better with female characters than with the men she plays (Octavian aside). I notice another reviewer suggests Ottavia which would indeed suit her wonderfully - and what about Vitellia?

The sound quality is superb, and the OAE are as ever responsive and meticulous in their period style. Harry Bicket, well known to Britich audiences for his Baroque repertoire, provides a rock solid and highly sensitive accompanist. A real treat, uniformly good with many moments of real excellence, and highly recommended.

A wonderful disc! Susan Graham is quickly developing into the kind of powerhouse artist that one can't get enough of. The Mozart aria's, though hardly novelties, are sung with the kind of inflection, fiery passion and delicacy required to make them truly work. Her "O Malheureuse Iphiginie" is alone worth the price of the CD. I had to hear it five times consecutively to make sure that what I was hearing was, in fact, as great as I thought it was. I will admit, I would have preferred if the release would have been an all Gluck (or maybe Gluck/Hasse) affair, but one can't really quibble about such minor things when the end result is as terrific as "Il Tenero Momento." Harry Bicket is a terrific young conductor, whom I've had the pleasure of hearing conduct on two occasions here in Miami. I can only dream about what Ms. Graham would do with the role of Ottavia in "Coronation of Poppea." Her "Disprezzata Regina" and "Addio, Roma" would, no doubt, send chills down my spine.

Susan Graham has wondeful mezzo voice and she has choosen a repertoire that suits it to a tee. Her creamy and pure tone illuminate the Gluck and Mozart arias in a such beautiful way. If you enjoy this you may want to try her recording of the Berlioz les Nuits d'ete, another group of songs that suit her voice so well. Ms. Graham represents along with Renee Fleming and Ruth Ann Swenson the best of the new American opera singers.

I enjoy Susan Graham in performance and on CD (her Ned Rorem CD is excellent). This time I was disappointed by the bland and nearly featureless impression this left me with. It is pablum start to finish to my ears. And too...her weak lower register is exposed unflatteringly in this repertoire.

For a study in opposites, try Ewa Podles in the same repertoire and buckle yourself in for the ride.

Susan Graham has wondeful mezzo voice and she has choosen a repertoire that suits it to a tee. Her creamy and pure tone illuminate the Gluck and Mozart arias in a such beautiful way. If you enjoy this you may want to try her recording of the Berlioz les Nuits d'ete, another group of songs that suit her voice so well. Ms. Graham represents along with Renee Fleming and Ruth Ann Swenson the best of the new American opera singers.

Ms. Graham delivers an enjoyable programme here with expert accompaniment. She has a wonderful top end to her voice...but in this lyric repertoire one must also have a bottom and be adept at seamless transitions between the registers, especially in the highly emotive coloratura sections such as the album's final piece, from Mozart's early and underrated *Lucio Silla*.

One doesn't blame Ms. Graham for the pleasingly light quality of her voice, as opposed to, say, the darker timbre of a Bartoli--but until she adds some strength to the bottom register, her singing in this and other repertoires will become increasingly yet more uneven than it is.

Susan Graham -- Mozart & Glucki Arias II tenero momento is some of the best music one can listen to. Susan Graham is at her very best, and that is saying something special. EVERY piece on this CD is brilliant. Not every other piece, but EVERY single one.

If you love this type of music do yourself a favor and buy this CD. You will not be disappointed.

This is one of the best vocal CDs released in the last several years. If you don't know Susan Graham's gift, this CD is the best introduction. I'd also recommend it if you're not especially an opera fan, but are interested in a very listenable introduction to top-notch singing. I've listened to this over and over, and have not filed the CD away for months.

The balance of material between Gluck and Mozart works surprisingly well. Graham eschews the showy and flashy, yet sings with extraordinary power and passion. The accompaniment is excellent, never getting in the way. The recording is almost perfect.

In short, a pleasurable CD that will improve the quality of your life.