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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The title Casta Diva tells all: this recital disc has soprano Angela Gheorghiu reaching out beyond the lyric Verdi/Gounod/Massenet/Puccini repertory in which she made her name and edging into the gymnastic world of coloratura and bel canto... with some measure of success. Her opening number, the eponymous Bellini "Casta Diva", doesn't show her at her best: the sound is hollow rather than serene and just a touch too fluttery in the vibrato to feel comfortable. But in other arias from La Sonnambula, I Puritani, and Guglielmo Tell she seems on surer ground--though even here the fioritura can be rushed and swallowed when it needs to be approached with measured confidence. Of course the technique is there, as is the eloquence and subtlety but take this disc as a token of things to come rather than evidence of what has already arrived. That way you'll be pleasantly surprised as opposed to slightly disappointed. --Michael White
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Stick with what you do best,
By
This review is from: Casta Diva (Audio CD)
After growing up on a diet of some of the best coloratura sopranos this planet has ever seen, case in point, Sutherland,Caballe, Sills and recordings of Lily pons, i am at a loss to understand why Gheorghiu's management would allow her to venture into this repetoire. Her voice does not have the agility and the technique to do this repetoire justice.
I was given a present of this CD. Just in case if you have any friends that are "into opera" please do not buy this CD for them for christmas. Mine is at this moment under a table leg providing a bit of balance! This CD was a badly advised route for Angela and she is just not up to the challenge.
9 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
a rather mixed bag,
This review is from: Casta Diva (Audio CD)
having seen this half of mr and mrs rolex onstage a few times (excuse my sarcasm, i am in no way questioning her artistry though!) i thought that this bel canto excourse would suit her voice rather well. it does indeed in some ways but in others she just sounds out of sorts. beginning with the good points: she is fantastic in slow and elegic music and i do rate her 'ah! non credea' on one par with callas', maybe even a notch above (pity though that they couldnt bring in a tenor to do elvino's few lines, without which something is missing) - the same goes for her 'casta diva' which is fabulous but here callas remains unsurpassed, cos her voice just sounded like norma. gheorghiu wouldn't be a norma on stage but this aria alone works very well for her. the same goes for the two slow rossini items where she can just let her voice flow and the anna bolena (whose cavatina she recorded previously). the conductor supports her well, so based on what i have said so far it should have been five stars. but then the downfall starts: her rosina doesn't sound like a minx and her use of chestvoice in that particular aria just doesn't sound right to me - where is the joy, where is the smile? she is a divaish 'vipera' but not much more, there is nothing interesting about her rosina. as lucia she just sounds out of sorts (and i can't pinpoint why!) and the top notes here go astray and sound awkward - the same which happens to the top es in the 'vien diletto' from puritani ... probably the worst notes she has ever comitted to disc so far. yes i know that it's not all about top notes (callas didn't really have them to crown her performances either, but in some ways i sense more character in callas' elvira or lucia than i find with gheorghiu, where i feel aware that she tries, but just tries too hard!) but some top notes which are just hurled out should have better been LEFT OUT ... in some ways less can make more impact. apart from that criticism i did enjoy parts of the recital (as above) so it's easy to program the less than good parts out when playing it. my advice is: do listen to the norma, sonnambula (WONDERFUL!), the rossini (apart from the rosina) and the later bit of the anna bolena and you will hear singing of the highest standard - for the rest you will have to take the rough with the smooth! but at least it shows again, that there has never been a perfect singer...
2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better it coud not be!,
By
This review is from: Casta Diva (Audio CD)
This singing is sensational.I do not understand why the arias are so mutillated ,especialy cadenzas.It is so oldfashened and out of trend.Gheorghiu is the best interpreter far from expectation.Elvira with high "ES", just unbeleaveble.The best is Rosina sung with vulcanic eruptions.I expect the best to be the Assiedo but it fails because of to quickly tempo, which is realy shame for conducter.Lot of cavatinas without cabalettas , why???Why not repetition of cabaletta with variations? D.Aleksic
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