TRIO VIVACE - Maiden
Voyage
DELIBES Dome
Epais
MOZART Ah guarda
sorella
OFFENBACH Belle
Nuit
BACH Andante
HANDEL O thou that takest; Rejoice greatly; He shall
feed
REGER Maria Wiegenlied
ADAM O holy
night
YON Gesu Bambino
TRAD (Spanish) La Pedida de la
Posada
SAINT-SAENS Come, Blessed
Saviour
MENDELSSOHN I waited for the
Lord
VIVALDI Laudamus
Te.
Trio Vivace: Ruth Arnett (mezzo),
Anna Bjarnson-Carson (soprano) and Anne Young
(piano).
[no number]
[55.04]
www.triovivace.com
e-mail chicksforchrist@juno.com
ordering details below
This CD stands as a showcase for the talents of a trio of two singers and
a pianist. They were founded in 1999. It is, as the imaginatively designed
card packaging declares, 'a journey through some 300 years of sacred &
operatic duets.' The disc presents 14 tracks one of which is for piano alone.
Trio Vivace is Ruth Arnett (mezzo), Anna Bjarnson-Carson (soprano) and Anne
Young (piano). Both voices are strongly operatic (try track 1 with the famous
duet from Lakme) and are not held back. I would have liked to have had a
sense of really quiet singing alongside such power. The recording is
unforgivingly close-up and this characteristic is accentuated by what is
for me a typical church hall acoustic.
Ruth Arnett's enunciation is delightfully precise (as is Anna Bjarnson-Carson's)
with a trace of accent (we all have an accent) discernible on words such
as 'God'. Of the two voices hers gives the greater sense of vibrato but it
is, in any event, mild.
This is a strong trio who clearly abound in musical values. They would however
have been better served by a more distant and less 'imperial' recording balance.
It is difficult to tell how much attention the two singers can give to really
quiet singing when the microphones are so close.
The triumvirate come across as tempestuously dramatic interpreters who will
surely continue to make for themselves a successful career.
On the debit side the playing time is short for a classical CD.
I can imagine this disc making a pleasure-giving addition to family listening
at any time of year.
I do hope that the trio will delve much deeper into the repertoire.
Further information about Trio Vivace can be found on www.triovivace.com.
The site is your source for ordering copies.
Rob Barnett
Ruth Arnett
Business Manager for Trio Vivace
chicksforchrist@juno.com
http://www.triovivace.com
To listen to Maiden Voyage:
http://www.mp3.com/triovivace
To order Maiden Voyage:
http://www.earBuzz.com/triovivace
A Note from Ruth Arnett
Our online distributor is
http://www.earbuzz.com/triovivace (credit
cards, checks accepted) -- the price is $16. If people would rather
not use the Internet, discs can be ordered from me directly at:
Trio Vivace
425 Naples Street
Chula Vista, CA. 91911-1908
USA
The price is $20 (and that includes postage).
I've got a "funny" accent because I was born in England and haven't managed
to dispense with it! How much music should one put on a CD? The classical
CDs I have usually have anywhere from 55 to 60 minutes on them; although
I understand that in Europe, 70 to 80 minutes is becoming more standard.
Thanks for the nice review on the packaging -- my graphic designer will LOVE
it. I really wanted to propel classical music
packaging into the new millennium. Just a few things I wanted to share with
you about the "imperial" recording balance. I believe this was a result of
doing a remote recording (which was decided on because we had access to the
church sanctuary and the grand piano there. This turned out to be a much
more economical way to go; as we were paying for the recording ourselves,
this seemed to be a smart move!) Our recording guy is also a "purist"; he
doesn't monkey around. Editing is reserved to "how much of take 1 do you
want inserting in take 2". There is one thing about this approach -- what
you hear on the recording is what you will get live. We won't be any worse
than what you hear on the disc! The music is the art; not the editing/recording
job!
