Australian-born soprano Cheryl Barker has a busy career in
both Australia and Europe and she has recorded extensively
for Chandos. Until this recital disc arrived I hadn’t
heard her and the first track, Adriana’s aria from Adriana
Lecouvreur at once revealed that the loss definitely
was mine. Here was a nuanced, well equalized voice with a
natural vibrancy of the kind that announces a singer with
spinto quality. A Renata Tebaldi voice, if you like. The
second aria from the opera is deeply intense. Lisa’s
aria from The Queen of Spades also sound tonally idiomatic
and dramatically well conceived. Especially in Lisa’s
arioso she depicts the vulnerability, so prominent in many
of Tchaikovsky’s female characters. Nedda’s aria
from Pagliacci, with its colourful orchestration,
is sung with ever-increasing intensity and is followed by
the long duet with Silvio. This has always been one of my
favourite excerpts from this opera, ever since I heard it
with Callas and Panerai. William Dazeley sounds as youthful
as Panerai did and is superb in Then will you say why
you have enslaved me. And Cheryl Barker sings with silvery
beauty in her following solo as well as when they sing in
unison. Lovely!
Marguerita’s death from Mephistopheles brings
us back to Tebaldi repertoire. Cheryl Barker may not have
the creamy tone of Tebaldi but she has the necessary chest-notes
and the power, enabling her to give Catalani’s La
Wally aria a thrilling dramatic climax.
Jake Heggie’s music for the Graham Greene-based The
End of the Affair is fascinating and accessible and Cheryl
Barker makes a good case for the opera, in which she sang
Sarah at the world premiere. The other contemporary composer,
Malcolm Williamson is also well represented with Berthe’s
aria from The Violins of Saint-Jacques, the main melody
of which has a true romantic cantilena, something between
Richard Strauss and Elgar. Superb singing.
‘
Real’ Strauss, finally, in two duets from Arabella. The
first one is probably the most famous part from the opera,
with the voices of the two sisters soaring so beautifully.
I first got to know the duet through a recording with the
original Arabella and Zdenka, Viorica Ursuleac and Margit
Bokor, recorded shortly after the premiere in Dresden 1933.
Cheryl Barker and Gillian Keith have nothing to fear from
a comparison and their voices are sufficiently different
in timbre to make them a finely contrasting couple, while
they blend well in the concluding unison singing.
The final duet between Arabella and Mandryka is a suitable
end to this programme - and with glorious singing. Singers
like Lisa Della Casa and Kiri Te Kanawa, not to mention Elisabeth
Schwarzkopf may have invested this music with more creamy
sounds and greater lyricism but Cheryl Barker’s is
still a worthy reading and William Dazeley is again splendid.
Excellent recording, premium playing from the LPO under the
experienced David Parry, and good notes add to the pleasure
of the issue and there are several photographs from the recording
sessions. Chandos can be proud with this latest addition
to their Opera in English series.
Göran Forsling
Track listing
Francesco CILEA (1866 - 1950)
Adriana Lecouvreur
1. See now, I am exhausted … I am the humble servant of God’s immortal
art (Io son l’umile ancella) [3:15]
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840 - 1893)
The Queen of Spades
2. You need not close the windows just yet … Oh why am I so tearful [4:49]
Ruggiero LEONCAVALLO (1857 - 1919)
Pagliacci
3. His eyes were flashing with anger … Through the air they soar (Stridono
lassu) [4:54]
4. My fate is in your hands … Then will you say why you have enslaved me (E
allor perché, di’, tu m’hai stregato (Nedda and Silvio’s
duet) [11:34]
Arrigo BOITO (1942 - 1918)
Mephistopheles
5. To the moonlit waves they cast him (Death of Marguerita) [5:57]
Jake HEGGIE (b. 1961)
The End of the Affair
6. Nineteen forty-four. March. May. June [6:36]
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY
The Queen of Spades
7. It’s nearly midnight now [5:10]
Richard STRAUSS (1864 - 1949)
Arabella
8. He’s not the one who is right for me … The one who is right for
me (Aber der richtige) Arabella and Zdenka’s Duet [6:19]
Francesco CILEA
Adriana Lecouvreur
9. Poor little flower (Poveri fiori) [2:23]
Malcolm WILLIAMSON (1931 - 2003)
The Violin of Saint-Jacques
10. How can I explain to you [4:12]
Alfredo CATALANI (1854 - 1893)
La Wally
11. I’ll float into the distance (Ebben? Ne andrò lontana) [3:48]
Richard STRAUSS
Arabella
12. I’m very glad, Mandryka (Das war sehr gut, Mandryka) Arabella
and Mandryka’s Duet [7:41]
Cheryl Barker (soprano) 
