Handel:
from Alcina:
"Tornami a vagheggiar"
from Giulio Cesare:
Overture
"Non disperar"
Sinfonia
"V'adoro pupille"
"Piangerò la sorte mia"
"Da tempeste"
from Rinaldo:
Overture
"Combatti da forte"
Sinfonia
"Lascia ch'io pianga"
"Bel piacere"
Emma Matthews (soprano)
New Zealand Chamber Orchestra
Donald Armstrong (musical director)
Artworks
Emma Matthews, who started her career as Emma Lysons in Perth, Western
Australia, is now one of the brightest stars in the antipodean operatic skies.
She has appeared with Opera Australia in many lyric soprano roles, including
Ilia in Idomeneo, Hero in Béatrice et Bénédict, Olympia in Les
Contes d'Hoffmann, and Zwaante in the 2001 Australian opera Batavia;
she scored a spectacular success in the Sydney Festival's Mitridate earlier this year. In her first recording, she concentrates on Handel
heroines, including Morgana and Almirena, whom she has portrayed on stage, and
Cleopatra, apparently a new role for her.
The somewhat unexpected involvement of the New Zealand Chamber Orchestra, an "independently managed division" of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, grew out of its work with Matthews on her recent New Zealand tour. The orchestra covers the same wide range of repertory that Matthews does, and, except for a harpsichord and a viola da gamba in the Sinfonia and "V'adoro pupille" from Giulio Cesare, it uses only modern instruments. Nevertheless, the orchestra's Handelian sensibilities are impeccable here, with well-chosen tempos and virtually vibrato-free strings.
Matthews' voice is the sort that one generally expects in this repertoire, pure and flexible, but it has more colors than one tends to expect from a singer capable of hitting a high F with ease (even while holding Indian dance-type postures, as she did in Mitridate).
While Handel might be obvious territory, the Cleopatra arias are a particularly brave choice, bringing as they do inevitable comparison with all the divas who have recorded them before — one can start with Sutherland and move along through Seefried, Sills, Popp, Caballé, Augér and Masterson, not to mention Matthews' compatriot Yvonne Kenny. In most cases, Matthews holds up well in these comparisons, successfully portraying Cleopatra as a "sensuous, mischievous and demanding woman" (as the liner notes put it). "Tornami a vagheggiar" is also closely associated with Dame Joan, and it is an interesting comparison. At times Matthews' diction sounds a little suspect, but close listening reveals that she merely has an idiosyncratic pronunciation of the letter "t" (rather like Ewa Podles' lisp, something no one ever mentions). Perhaps most rewarding are the arias for Rinaldo's heroine Almirena, a role with which Matthews is thoroughly conversant. In all cases, Matthews brings her own interpretations to bear, with appropriate and individual ornamentations.
There are three complaints one might make. First, the recording is only 47 minutes long; second, some of those precious minutes are filled by instrumental selections. This is something of a tradition with Australian vocal baroque CDs, and not a particularly welcome one; similar problems are evident on the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra's CDs with Graham Pushee, Yvonne Kenny and Andreas Scholl. Third, and most obvious, the repertoire is extremely familiar. Given that some 40 Handel operas survive, there are a lot of less familiar but still wonderful arias out there for singers to choose from, many of them just as delightful or moving as "Tornami a vagheggiar" or "Piangerò."
None of these cavils detract from the musical performances on offer, however,
and while recorded Handel aria recitals are on their way to becoming as
plentiful as Mozart Requiems or Tchaikovsky symphonies, this one is worth
acquiring and treasuring.
