'Casta Diva'

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...

Fact is, she proves here that she "can't belto bel canto".

First of all, some of the selections are simply way too ambitious for the limitations of her voice, even if she had a perfect bel canto technique. Norma is a role she could NEVER essay on stage, Anna Bolena, and Guglielmo Tell would be a big stretch for as light a voice as hers.

The other selections such as Lucia, Puritani, Barbiere and Assedio di Corinto would be possible for a voice of that weight and size but she lacks the technique, security and high notes for them.

A few passages are well done, many others sound unformed, student-like and "barely there" - pitch wavers a bit too much for a recording, where retakes can be done! The arias all blend into one mush of soft, same toned singing with litte differentiation for the character or the scene. The coloratura runs - one of the hallmarks of bel canto style - are sloppy and mushy. A few of the high notes are landed well but others are strident or wobbly and uncertain. Plus, her Italian has an odd accent which is quite obvious in the recitatives.

I am very disappointed with this disk because I had long thought that Gheorghiu could excel on the lyric side of bel canto! But bel canto takes a lot more technique, style and refinement than Angela Gheorghiu can muster.

I think Angela Gheorghiu is losing her way and trying to be all things to all people. She ought to stick with what she does best, and spend more time at the piano with her scores and with a good teacher than she does giving idiotic interviews to the newspapers.

If you want to hear bel canto as it should be sung still with Callas, Caballe, and Sutherland or even the younger recordings of Scotto and Moffo!!!!