Vesselina Kasarova: Sento brillar (RCA Red Seal CD)

"Händel could express the whole cosmos of humanity with his music. He had a passion for opera. The fascinating thing is that, like Mozart, the most profoundly and intensely dramatic music of his is found not in showy tunes, but in the slow and quiet music when his heroes express their anguish and sorrow."

So states Vesselina Kasarova, the great Bulgarian mezzo-soprano opera singer, in the little booklet that comes with this fascinating studio recorded CD compilation of 15 Baroque arias (all composed by Georg Friedrich Händel) that were made famous by the legendary soprano castrato Giovanni Maria Bernardino Carestini (1700- c.1760). It is a rather bold statement that explains why her latest disc is dominated by long, slow, and dramatically affecting arias rather than being the usual collection of flashy virtuoso numbers that one would expect from a CD compilation of songs from the Baroque period. Aside from the final 8 tracks from the operas Ariodante and Alcina, the arias on the disc are from very rarely performed early Händel works that we would likely never get to hear in full. So... unless you are a fanatical Händel collector, chances are good that you have never heard some of the arias on this disc before.

Kasarova is rightfully known both for her instantaneously recognizable sumptuous and agile voice of many color and for her ability to communicate a wide range of emotion in her singing. The selection of arias on this CD is quite aptly designed to highlight all those qualities. Her trademark warm and controlled vibrato (the natural pulsation) in her voice is minimized and opportunistically used to great dramatic in great combination with fantastic vocal coloring. She doesn't deploy her famous (or infamous, depending almost entirely on your stylistic preference) chest notes as freely as she usually does, however. And she seems a bit more mindful of the Baroque style in her rendition! I must confess that I still prefer her usual 'let it all hang out' way of singing these Baroque heroes to this cleaner studio rendition. But after 4 listening sessions this recording is still growing on me all the time! I really don’t know why... but there is that undefinable Kasarova magic to it.

Vesselina Kasarova mezzo-soprano
Alan Curtis / Il complesso barocco (period instruments)

TRACKS:
OTTONE, RÉ DI GERMANIA, HWV 15 (1733)
1. Dove sei, dolce mia vita
2. Un disprezzato affetto
The recital starts on a mournful note with the love sick Ottone (Otho) lamenting about the absence of his beloved Teofane. I had never heard the aria Dove sei, dolce mia vita! before, but it is a great find for Kasarova. From the get-go we are treated to an intoxicating swirl of colors that sears every shade of despair and longing to our very soul. The disparity between her high notes and her low ones may take some getting used to, but once you do it has the effect of making Ottone's controlled heartache more palpitating.

The second number, Un disprezzato affetto, sees the other side of our hero. There are many arias that are more technically spectacular, but the way Kasarova infuses her tones with a controlled rage of a jealous lover is a study in how to squeeze drama out of Baroque music. It's a shame that the orchestra under Maestro Curtis is content to just drone unmovingly on sounding strangely cool even as the singer burns down the recording microphone with her passion.

ARIANNA IN CRETA, HWV 32
3. O patria! O citadin!
4. Sol ristoro di mortali
5. Bella sorge la speranza
In track 3, O patria! O citadin! we encounter the first accompanied recitative (orchestra accompanied sung speech leading into a song) on this CD. This is usually the most attention repellent part of any opera performance... unless you have a great singing actress on hand who can spice up even the most mundane of recitatives so that they become just as dramatically engaging as the arias are. In Kasarova, we have just that... one of the greatest singing actresses of her generation. Tracks 3, 4, 5 are sung by Teseo (Theseus) the Greek who arrived in Crete looking to fight the Minotaur and release his country from the ungodly curse it was put under. He was single-minded in his quest to complete the mission... until he runs into the beautiful (and, as it would turn out, very helpful as well) Arianna, the daughter of the king he is trying to undermine.

The recitative O patria! is Teseo's private airing of the torment of having to choose between his patriotic duty and his love for Arianna. It is immediately followed by the graceful prayer, Sol ristoro di mortali, to the gods for help in making the right choice. As explosively expressive as Kasarova can be, it is in quiet moments like this that she really shines in her ability to vocalize quiet introspection.

Track 5, Bella sorge la speranza, is joyous celebration of the no-longer-doubtful Teseo, who teams up with the brasses to expel the storm clouds by the force of their happiness. Kasarova’s top notes are rather strangely uneasy, though, which doesn't necessarily enhance the rendition. This voice is definitely weighed toward the bottom. When she gets to dwell in the middle and lower parts of her voice, she is spectacularly expressive and in superb control. When she ventures up to the top register, however, she is something of a barely reined in wild bronco!

IL PASTOR FIDO/TERPSICORE, HWV 8c
6. Sento brillar nel sen
7. Caro amor, sol per momenti
Sample: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFuIRYgpZKM

Il pastor fido is the opera track 7 occurs in, though track 6 (Sento brillar) is from a separate short ballet-opera ‘Terpsicore’ that Händel used as the prologue to Il pastor fido with in 1734. Sento brillar is a splendidly spectacular bravura aria Mirtillo sings of the confidence he has in having secured to love of Amarilli (it is strikingly similar to the brilliant Dopo notte atra e funestra from Händel’s more popular opera, Ariodante). Kasarova’s enthusiasm rivals SARS in terms of infectiousness. It even seems to rub off on the orchestra, which stirs from its previously unmoveably 'regular' way to join the singer's celebration a bit. At 5:46 min, it is a long-ish thing to sing for all the vocal fireworks the aria requires, but if anyone has the stamina to equal its demands, Kasarova does.

It is demonstrative of Händel’s mind for drama that Mirtillo has as deeply mellow an aria as Caro amor, sol per momenti to round off his personality with this wistful song to his beloved. It is a superbly accented graceful love song that will make you sigh with the thought that life is worth living if only for someone to sing a song like this to you with such love in her voice.

ARIODANTE, HWV 33
8. Overture & Ballet
9. O felice mio core
10. Con l’ali di constanza
11.E vivo ancora?
12. Scherza infida in grembo al
13. Numi Lasciami vivere
The Overture to Ariodante is an interesting composition even though I’d rather hear a piano transcription of this thing rather than this stylistically correct performance of it on period instruments. Händel had only a limited choice of orchestral instruments to color his composition with, but he made the most out of it and bestowed upon this prelude with some really charming shifts in harmonics and dynamics. If you aren’t a fan of Baroque opera (if you fall asleep after hearing 3 bars of Water Music or other non-Vivaldi Baroque orchestral music), however, track 8 is likely background music for you.

Con l’ali di constanza is a jubilant song Ariodante (one of the three heroes of Ariosto's famous play, Orlando Furioso) lets loose after having successfully asked for the hand of his beloved Ginevra in marriage. It’s a ... er... strangely uneven rendition, especially during the treacherous semi-quaver roulades. I suspect the occasional lack of forward momentum I hear has a lot to do with the studio recording environment (the whole song isn’t recorded in one go, but in fragments). An early coloratura passage has some rather rough glottal attacks that perhaps should have been redone, though the rest of it displays vintage Kasarova androgenic touch that makes her so in-demand in trouser and ex-castrato roles. It isn’t that the voice itself is particularly manly, but the way that she attacks the music really gives you the testosterone rush along with the adrenaline!

The recitative E vivo ancora? and the splendidly tortuously emotionally wrenching aria Scherza infida benefit magnificently from Kasarova’s seemingly limitless ability to draw out every shade of subtleties and nuances from Händel’s expressive score... and she is well matched by Carles Cristobal on the obbligato bassoon. I would prefer a slower tempo for this aria than the one Maestro Curtis sets... and also more rubato (elasticity in note value) from the orchestra. Though as is, this rendition makes me appreciate Kasarova's ability to make the most out of what steely musical cage imposed on her even more! At 8:50 minutes, this song is a long beast. Sung by this devastatingly theatric singer, though, it is actually not long enough... And she never resorts to any cheap emoting tricks! When this Ariodante feels sorry for himself over Ginevra's unfaithfulness, we listeners feel helpless in our inability to comfort him. When he lapses into fits of spiteful scorn over her betrayal, we are reminded of all the past loves who had unjustifiably jumped the ship on us. The heroic knight's logically-flawed resolve to end his miserable life by jumping into the unforgiving North Sea all of the sudden seems the most sensible course of action in the world!

Alas... if a hero like Ariodante can just simply be drown out of the picture, then neither Ariosto nor Händel would have bothered writing about him! So when the wretched (and now also very wet) man finds himself washed up distressingly alive on the beach he sings Track 13, Numi! Lascarmi vivere, to air his disgust at his overly well-endowed durability. Even in this most unbecomingly whiny setting, Kasarova still somehow manages to convey Ariodante’s larger than life quality. And her venom is so palpable that I shrink before the stereo listening while half expecting some really large spits to come flying out of the stereo speakers and burn holes right through my carpet as they land.

ALCINA, HWV 34
14. Mi lusinga il dolce affetto
15. Verdi prati, selve amene
The final two tracks see Kasarova as Ruggiero, the melancholic knight who spends much of the opera breaking out of the amorous enchantment that the sorceress Alcina had placed on him out of one-sided love. Both arias are sublime intonation of regret. In Mi lusinga, the rather confused Ruggiero has finally been made aware of how Alcina’s magic had led him to betray his faithful betrothed Bradamante. The thought of how ignoble his behavior had been torments him even though he still harbors doubt about Bradamante’s identity. I’m afraid Maestro Curtis’s rather steadily brisk tempo really doesn’t help in setting the ‘sorrowful’ mood for this number, though Kasarova is expressive enough to deliver Ruggiero’s distress even with that handicap.

The richness of her voice has to be heard to be believed....especially with the warmth of her chest notes (and these are more even than in her live singing). Listening to this is like being able to drop in on Ruggiero’s private musing to himself rather than just hearing someone singing a song. Perhaps the long messa di voce (varying the dynamic of a single held note from soft to loud to soft) on ‘amando ancor’ could be better delivered and perhaps the trills (oscillation between two adjacent notes) could be more distinct, but considering how dramatically convincing this rendition already is, those slight ‘imperfections’ are practically inconsequential.

Legend has it that Carestini initially resisted singing the aria ‘Verdi prati’ because its doesn’t provide him the opportunity to wow the crowd with his well endowed ability to burn down the stage with his vocal pyrotechnics. But as Kasarova aptly puts it in the quote at the beginning of this review, some of the most sublime of music aren’t showy. In lesser hand, arias like this final track can be unbearably boring and dull. Entrusted on someone like this Bulgarian mezzo, however, they generally turn out to be the most dramatically moving moments of the entire operatic evening! It is to Kasarova’s credit that of the 6 different (equally moving) renditions of this song I’ve heard her performed, none of them sound the same! In this recording, she actually ornaments the music on the first pass... Some listeners would frown at this, but it actually adds a very interesting ‘ironic’ touch to what Ruggiero is expressing. Having fully broken through from his magic-induced addiction to Alcina, our hero now realizes that as her power over him fades, so does the splendid vision of her magnificent garden that he so loved. While many others can only express one degree of sadness in their singing of this song, Kasarova’s manages to fit at least two shades into the same chunk of music... Her Ruggiero is sad, and you know exactly why from the very sound of him even if you don’t understand Italian. But rather than just being sorrowful, this Ruggiero is also scornful of the deception the pretty vision represents.


Whether you should buy this CD or not would depend a great deal on how open-minded you are about how Baroque music can be sung. Those who demand sheer technical perfection and extravagance vocal pyrotechnic need not bother. Those who are more interested in hearing what story Händel’s extraordinarily dramatic arias are meant to express, however, should not miss Kasarova’s take on them. The voice is not perfect and the technique unconventional, but her use of what resources she has to interpret rather than just sing turns her 'flaws' into strengths and endears her to listeners who value the art of story-telling in opera more than the technical prowess that doesn't serve anything greater than itself. Never mind that the Baroque period was ruled by the virtuoso castrati, Händel was a drama-oriented composer who, I posit, would appreciate Kasarova's lively resurrection of his music.

Here are some sample clips to give you some ideas of what the music included on this CD is like:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM9Js2F5Vrc (Ariodante's Con l'ali di constanza)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4fmVWlu9GQ (Ariodante's Scherza infida)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-Lb79nAtFE (Ruggiero's Mi lusinga)

1 CD. Run-time: 64:12 min. Sung in Italian. Booklet contains: track list, Guido Fischer’s note in German on Händel, Carestini, and their collaboration on the music included on this recording with translation in English and French, and printed libretto in Italian, English, German, and French.

Some other operas by Georg Friedrich Händel:
Alcina (Munich 2005), Alcina (Stuttgart 1999), Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Bruxelles 1992), Rinaldo (Venice 1989), Rodelinda (Munich)

Other recordings of Vesselina Kasarova:
CDs: Suter: Le laudi di San Francesco (1991), French Song Cycles (1995), A Portrait (1996), Lied-Duett/Wir Schwestern zwei, (with E Gruberova) (1996), Mozart Arias (1997), Rossini Arias & Duets (1999), German Lieder (2000), Love Entranced (French Opera Arias) (2002), Bulgarian Soul (2003), The Magic of Kasarova (2004), Bel Canto Duets (With Vargas, Mei, Florez)(2005), Das Bayerische Staatsoper: 1997-2005 (2006), Belle Nuit (2008).

Opera CDs: Alcina (Munich 2005), Beatrice di Tenda (Vienna 1992), I Capuleti e i Montecchi, La Cenerentola (Munich 2005), La clemenza di Tito (Munich 2006), Dom Sébastien (ROH 2005), La Favorite (Munich 2000), Mitridate (Salzburg 1997), Oberon, Tancredi, Werther

Opera DVDs: Il barbiere di Siviglia (Zürich 2001), La belle Hélène (Zürich 1997), Berlin Opera Night 2003, La clemenza di Tito (Salzburg 2003), La clemenza di Tito (Zürich 2005), La damnation de Faust (Salzburg 1999), Orphée et Eurydice (Munich 2005), Pique Dame/Queen of Spade (Vienna 1992), Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria (Zürich 2002), Der Rosenkavalier (Zürich 2004)

Live Performance: Dom Sébastian at Carnegie Hall 2006

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Listening