Search - Marilyn Horne in Recital on DVD

Born to sing... excellently

Smorgy | Southern California, USA | 11/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Arias included:
1. Händel: Semele: Awake Saturnia/ Iris, hence away
Beethoven
2. In questa tomba oscura, 3. Ich liebe dich, 4. Busslied
5. FM Alvarez: La Partida
6. X Montsalvatge: Canción de cuna
7. E Granados: La Maja dolorosa
8. F Obradors: El vito
9. G Rossini: Semiramide: Eccomi alfine/Ah, quel giorno/Oh, come da quel
H Duparc
10. L'invitaion au voyage, 11. Extase, 12. Le manoir de Rosemonde
A Copeland: Old American Songs
13. Simple Gifts, 14. Ching a Ring Chaw, 15. Long Time Ago, 16. At the River
17. G Donizetti: Lucrezia Borgia: Il segreto per esser felice (Brindisi)
18. G Rossini: Se il vuol, la molinara
S Foster
19. Beautiful Dreamer, 20. Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair

This solo recital at La Scala finds Marilyn Horne in top form and presents a good case for her christening as the greatest singer of her generation. She is a cute short thing (only about 5'2"), but sounds like a 6' tall Amazon whose agility can give a cheetah a good run for an antelope dinner. She is especially thrilling in virtuoso rage arias (the Handel, Rossini, and Donizetti numbers).

All the songs are well to extremely well sung, though the most haunting for me are the English language ones... especially the final two encores by Stephen Foster. It isn't that her diction in other language is faulty, but that when she sings in English she really gets into the songs more and turns them into stories (in other languages she is mainly singing a song very musically).

Martin Katz is also a marvelous partner from the piano. A one man orchestra who really excels in showcasing Horne's singing. He is very expressive without drawing attention to himself.

All in all, it a great recital DVD... and I dare say a must have for any lover of the operatic mezzo-soprano voice. All songs are sung in original language with optional subtitle in: English, German, French, Italian."