Love Entranced: French Opera Arias

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The Bulgarian mezzo Vesselina Kasarova here exhibits some new sides to her wonderful voice and interpretive abilities. The rich, creamy sound is very impressive near the bottom of its range (rarely the case with mezzos nowadays, Ewa Podles notwithstanding), and she gets to show it off here. The program is varied: We get Urbain's playful, charming aria from Les Huguenots, followed by Fides' pitiful plea from Le Prophete. Sapho's suicidal lament changes mood again, and Dido's farewell offers more grief--all beautifully portrayed. And so on with six more selections, some quite rare and welcome (an aria from Gounod's little-heard Cinq-Mars), others familiar but well-enough done to sound newly minted (Dalila's Act II aria). This CD lets us know that there's even more to Kasarova than Mozart, Bellini, and Rossini. It's a fine release, highly recommended. --Robert Levine

Tracks:

Les Huguenots: Non, non...Vous n'avez jamais, je gage
Le Proph: Donnez, donnez
Sapho: Os-je?
Les troyens: Je vais mourir...Adieu, fi cit
Mignon: Connais-tu le pays?
Romet Juliette: Depuis hier je cherche en vain mon mae
Cinq Mars: Per quel trouble profond suis-je ici ramon
Samson et Dalila: Amour, viens aider ma faiblesse
Le Cid: Pleurez, mes yeux!
Le Roi d'Ys: De tous c j'apers dans le plaine

Amazon.com

The Bulgarian mezzo Vesselina Kasarova here exhibits some new sides to her wonderful voice and interpretive abilities. The rich, creamy sound is very impressive near the bottom of its range (rarely the case with mezzos nowadays, Ewa Podles notwithstanding), and she gets to show it off here. The program is varied: We get Urbain's playful, charming aria from Les Huguenots, followed by Fides' pitiful plea from Le Prophete. Sapho's suicidal lament changes mood again, and Dido's farewell offers more grief--all beautifully portrayed. And so on with six more selections, some quite rare and welcome (an aria from Gounod's little-heard Cinq-Mars), others familiar but well-enough done to sound newly minted (Dalila's Act II aria). This CD lets us know that there's even more to Kasarova than Mozart, Bellini, and Rossini. It's a fine release, highly recommended. --Robert Levine

Customer Reviews:

More Kasarova's magic..........2002-04-16

'This is the stuff of legends' -exclaimed Gramophone in their review of Kasarova's debut disc, released in 1997. I don't know if this new one will create the same excitement in the music press but to me it will always be 'the stuff of legends', maybe even more so than the first. It rarely happens that a singer makes me an addict of repertoire I never really cared about. The last time I was so totally captivated by a vocal recital was with Bartoli's Gluck disc. But Bartoli's task was much easier; I had been a huge Gluck fan for years before her disc appeared. Kasarova's chances of captivating me with her French recital were rather meager but her solo discs are such rarities (I hope it has something to do with her recent pregnancy and not with the caprices of the classical music industry) that I couldn't resist. And the rest is indeed 'the stuff of legends'...
Obviously I can't call myself a connoisseur of this repertoire but I also never thought of myself as a mere 'voice' addict: what mattered more was the repertoire sung, so you'd never see me buying Bartoli's Bellini or Donizetti arias disc if she suddenly decided to record such a thing. So why all of a sudden do I find myself buying a disc of French arias by composers - with the exception of Berlioz - I never really cared about? Well, that's Kasarova's magic... I can't offer you a track by track analysis of this disc - I'll leave it to those who know a bit about French opera of the period - but I can assure you that this is singing of great beauty and unsurpassed artistry (and in beautiful French). It is hard to pick absolute favorites in this collection of gems, but if I had to choose then it would be Massenet's "Pleurez, pleurez mes yeux" (track 9) from "Le Cid" with a marvellous clarinet solo, or "Nuit resplendissante" from Gounod's "Cinq-Mars". In the recitative to Stefano's aria from Gounod's "Romeo et Juliette" ("Depuis hier je cherche en vain mon maitre") I would like to hear a bit more of the arrogance that the text calls for, but this is a small detail.
The orchestral playing of the Munich Radio Orchestra under Frederic Chaslin is a true delight, and this is not one of those casual compliments that one usually adds to a review to make it 'complete'. The playing is really gorgeous and brings as much pleasure to the ear as Kasarova's singing.
Surprisingly, the booklet's essay (by Andre Tubeuf) is not devoted to an introduction to the French opera of the nineteenth century, but talks about the tradition of French singing that was often the domain of foreign singers. Kasarova is continuing this tradition. Says Tubeuf: "If her programme had included the "Tribut de Zamora", her guiding star would have been Gabrielle Krauss; if the "Roi de Lahore", then Josephine de Reszke and if Saint-Saens' "Ancetre", then Felia Litvinne". This may sound like a subtle reproach on Tubeuf's part, for the total timing of the CD is only about 54 minutes. And this is my only quibble about this wonderful release but it is not really important. Artistry of this calibre is so rare that it is well worth the price of the disc, however short. Kasarova's singing has a certain old-fashioned quality, that total dedication that characterizes the artistry of all too few singers today (Bartoli , Fleming and in her own way von Otter are the only other examples I can think of). A wonderful disc and a real treat! (Kicek)

AN HOUR OF FRENCH DELIGHT!!!!.......2002-04-11

It is always a pleasure, when you are listening to an artist singing in your country's language (I am swiss, so almost french), to be able to enjoy each word in its more intimate nature, as only music can do it. Miss Kasarova is a sublime artist and her french is just so exact, so touching, she brings the perfect FRENCH TOUCH. This album is the best collection of great romantic opera arias of the french repertoire that I have ever had in my vast collection of 3500 recordings. The orchestra under the baton of Frederic Chaslin sounds great with a perfect balance, giving both the power and subtility of this music. this is a MUST HAVE!!!!

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