Angela is our last album of the year
Album Of The WeekFrom the Lebrecht Album of the Week:
…The last time she sang in London, Gheorghiu was savaged in the Times for singing her first three arias some way out of tune with the orchestra. Here there is no problem with intonation (unless it was digitally corrected). …
Read on here.
And here.
En francais ici.
Gheorghiu’s concert at the Royal Festival Hall earlier this month was outstanding, the audience close to me was all in tears. She commended the stage in every possible way and her voice is still in top form.
The Times reviewer of the concert seemed not to have been there, (L’altra notte was in fact her third aria), then he was also shamefully commenting that her cleavage got her the several standing ovation… surprised to see how The Times reviewers are even allowed to publish such mess. I remember another Times review in 2018 or 2019 for Gheorghiu’s Barbican recital: it was outstanding and all the reviewer got to say was that the audience was somehow “tricked” in being spellbound by the recital.
Personally, I look forward to listening to this CD and I wish there were more artists of Gheorghiu’s calibre today, and there really aren’t
Sadly we were also there and agree completely with the Times’ critic’s comments on her singing. Her intonation was very poor (the way she approached notes from below was very odd) and her voice was a shadow of its former self.
The short video on her instagram (filmed from somebody in the audience sitted in the choir section) shows her in wonderful voice. That timbre, always instantly recognizable, and what a voice!
Glad to know that her new album is an overall success
In 2006, the Bulgarian label Gega New released the (then-known) complete songs of Puccini with Krassimira Stoyanova, accompanied on piano (and organ for one track) by Maria Prinz. The album is entitled „Sogno d’or“ and consists of 18 tracks.
While it can be found on Amazon in the UK and America at inflated prices, Naxos apparently picked-up the rights and, in 2017, re-released the album plus an additional track under the title „Giacomo Puccini: Complete Songs for Soprano and Piano“.
Opera Now wrote in April 2017: „Her disc of Puccini songs demonstrates why she’s amongst the most sought-after sopranos of the day. Stoyanova’s voice has a cool, almost instrumental quality, which then bursts into a surprisingly rich and warm sound when she unleashes it, but always with a sense of control … Stoynova sails through it in glorious voice and Maria Prinz’s accompaniment is as equally accomplished. For lovers of good singing.“
The Gheorghiu album contains 17 tracks, one claiming to be a „world premiere“ recording.
I cannot judge the Gheorghiu album as it has not yet been released (it is scheduled for release in late January).
That being said, if, given a choice between Gheorghiu at her career best and Stoyanova in 2006, I would happily choose Stoyanova, whose voice has the weight for the Verdi spinto roles, and, as heard at her first „Tosca“ at Wiener Staatsoper in March, still produces some of the most sensitive phrasing and luscious, creamy high notes I’ve ever heard.
Gheorghiu’s Puccini interpretations, on stage and on disc, are unsurpassable
Have you ever heard/seen Stoyanova?
You cannot judge her new album as it’s not released, however you already judge it by praising another album of another soprano, stating it’s most definitely better… you also seem to question the world premiere of one song, why??
I love it when some try to promote other basic singers on the topic of a big star…
Gheorghiu was at her career best in 2006 too. Comparing an album when Stoyanova was 44 with Gheorghiu when she is 58 does not seem too clever either!
It is regrettable that CD recordings have gradually been named ‘albums’, as has always been custom in the world of pop music. This is blurring the boundaries between the two genres. And that is wrong.