Essence
Arias by Puccini, Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, Boito, Cilea, Giordano and Catalani
Marina Rebeka (soprano); Wrocław Opera Orchestra/Marco Boemi
Prima Classic PRIMA013 57:18 mins
From the opening phrase of Puccini’s ‘Un bel di’ we know we are in safe hands. Latvian soprano Marina Rebeka’s latest recital album is so much more than a pat trawl through 13 operatic lollipops. Butterfly’s heartrending all-night vigil is sung here with a touching insight into the plight of a girl whose romantic dream is about to be shattered. ‘La mamma morta’ from Cilea’s Andrea Chénier is delivered as a piece of gripping storytelling with the voice colouring every horrifying twist and turn. There’s charm and poise in Nedda’s lilting ‘Stridono lassù’ from Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, and flirtatious mischief in Musetta’s ‘Quando m’en vo’ soletta’ from La bohème… Each miniature scene has its own distinctive drama.
There’s the occasional misstep. The lugubrious pace of Tosca’s ‘Vissi d’arte’ sounds too studied: Rebeka certainly has the breath-control to slow things down, but here it interrupts the flow of the character’s innermost thoughts.
On the whole, though, this is Rolls-Royce singing, the voice a finely tuned engine whose expressive powers go from zero to off-the-dial in seconds as an introspective pianissimo builds to an outburst of unleashed emotion in a single phrase. Rebeka floats her high notes beautifully and sustains astonishing control over tone and dynamics in the longest of the melodic lines.
As if being a terrific singer wasn’t enough, Rebeka is also an entrepreneur. Prima Classic is her own label founded in conjunction with her recording-engineer husband Edgardo Vertanessian, who has masterminded this project. Here, they collaborate with the estimable Wrocław Opera Orchestra from Poland, sensitively conducted by Marco Boemi. A fine recording by a stellar artist. Ashutosh Khandekar
