Super singers: Bostridge, Florez, Hvorostovsky, Gheorghiu, Gens
By Stephanie von Buchau, Alameda Times-Star, 24 March 2005

Schubert: Die schoene Muellerin. Ian Bostridge, tenor; Mitsuko Uchida, piano (EMI Classics)

      Like Schubert's "Winterreise," the earlier "Beautiful Maid of the Mill" is also about love and death, only with a swifter forward motion; this unrequited lover is still a hopeful youth. It's a role that Bostridge - with his light, tangy timbre - was born to sing and kudos to him for securing a major pianist, Uchida, as his partner.

      If the Schubert cycles are sung like this - with dazzling vocal colors, wide swings of energy and torpor, with achingly pinpointed pitch and a whole-hearted emotional identification that is as exhausting as it is thrilling - they are, like this recording, simply sensational.

Juan Diego Florez: Great Tenor Arias. Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano; Carlo Rizzi, cond. (Decca)

      Don't start with the first track on Florez's new CD. The French version of Gluck's "Orphee," written for tenor (the original Italian "Orfeo" was for castrato), yielded a heroically florid exit aria that Florez should have sung instead of the obvious "J'ai perdu mon Euridice," which doesn't suit his harsh, nasal tone.

      Once past that, however, we have an overflowing cornucopia of delights, starting with Lindoro's difficult scene from "Italian Girl." The singing is confident, aggressive,   flexible and utterly captivating, ending with a tour de force version of the glorious tenor aria from Puccini's "Gianni Schicchi." Let us pray that the new San Francisco Opera regime returns Florez to the War Memorial where he belongs.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky: Moscow Nights. Moscow Chamber Orchestra; Constantine Orbelian, cond. (Delos)

      Hvorostovsky is the silver-haired Siberian superstar with a "bedroom eyes" baritone and a musical mind of his own. "Moscow Nights" is a series of popular Russian art songs he grew up with post World War II. Orbelian, as always, is a stylistically astute partner.

      You don't have to know a word of Russian (though texts are included) to experience the poignancy and passion of this music. You may even have trouble getting past the opening track - I replayed it about six times. In "How young we were," each verse is given increasing volume and emotional power. An astonishing display of communicative singing.

Angela Gheorghiu: Puccini Arias. Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano; Anton Coppola, cond. (Decca)

      A pity that the Romanian Gheorghiu has not appeared at SFO. She's my choice for today's most glamorous soprano - looks and acting ability better than anybody, plus a solid musical technique attached to a really beautiful voice.

      This Puccini compendium   is nearly complete - all the usual suspects plus three arias from "Turandot," and the big numbers from "Edgar" and "Le villi." They are all gorgeous.
This is a singer with none of the self-aggrandizing bad vocal habits or technical flaws of her famous
contemporaries.

Canteloube: Chants d'Auvergne. Veronique Gens, soprano; Orchestre National de Lille; Jean-Claude Casadesus, cond. (Naxos)

      I praised Kiri Te Kanawa's "Songs of the Auvergne," recently; it's a historical recording, beautifully and sensually performed. This new CD is even better. Gens is from the Auvergne, which gives her textual reading authenticity and Casadesus is a sensitive accompanist.

      Best of   all, the soprano's light, tender tone keeps the piece floating with that ethereal innocence that
Canteloube created so effortlessly. The last of these folksong settings was written in 1955 - by that era nobody was making such beautiful, melodic music.

      Listen and weep.