Where Singers Are Goddesses, and Sometimes Pioneers.
Homage: The Age of the Diva
Renee Fleming, soprano
Valery Gergiev conducting the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra
Recently I read of the passing of an operatic baritone with a familiar name, though his career had quite unjustly missed my attention: Robert McFerrin Sr. If the name stirs up additional associations, perhaps it's because Mr. McFerrin's son is one Bobby McFerrin, sometime collaborator with cellists and conductors, and one-man vocal orchestra who is most famous for "Don't Worry, Be Happy."
But if Bobby McFerrin conjures up a particular moment in the '80s, Robert McFerrin Sr. belongs to history itself, for he, like the legendary contralto Marian Anderson, was one of two African-American singers to shatter segregation right on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. For this let him be remembered and celebrated.
Celebration and musical legacies are also very much on the mind of American soprano Renee Fleming, she of the passionate, expressive voice and radiant stage presence. Ms. Fleming's latest project, Homage: The Age of the Diva, reaches back to the turn of the last century, the age of silent films and the first sound recordings, and the women whose artistry helped bring it all about.
Ah, I can already hear your groans about the overuse of the word "diva." True, it's a term flung about with abandon and applied randomly. But etymologically speaking, a diva is a goddess, and goddesses are very much what Fleming celebrates here. Her pantheon includes Geraldine Farrar, Mary Garden, Maria Jeritza, Lotte Lehmann, and Rosa Ponselle, adored sopranos who inspired composers, dazzled audiences, and premiered an array of musical works.
Fleming's choices here include much that likely has no equal in your collection. Some material, such as the selection from Rimsky-Korsakov's Servilia, has barely been performed at all.
But it is a passionate, sensual journey, from the familiar (Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur and Puccini's Tosca) to the rare (Tchaikovsky's Oprichnik). I was particularly intrigued by Korngold's Die Kathrin, a work I'll have to explore, for obvious reasons. Listen to Fleming sing "Ich soll ihn niemals, niemals mehr sehn" and see if your heart doesn't break.
Valery Gergiev's orchestra provides the rich setting for Fleming's jewel-like voice. This is an album that positively glows.
Renee Fleming, soprano
Valery Gergiev conducting the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra
Recently I read of the passing of an operatic baritone with a familiar name, though his career had quite unjustly missed my attention: Robert McFerrin Sr. If the name stirs up additional associations, perhaps it's because Mr. McFerrin's son is one Bobby McFerrin, sometime collaborator with cellists and conductors, and one-man vocal orchestra who is most famous for "Don't Worry, Be Happy."But if Bobby McFerrin conjures up a particular moment in the '80s, Robert McFerrin Sr. belongs to history itself, for he, like the legendary contralto Marian Anderson, was one of two African-American singers to shatter segregation right on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. For this let him be remembered and celebrated.
Celebration and musical legacies are also very much on the mind of American soprano Renee Fleming, she of the passionate, expressive voice and radiant stage presence. Ms. Fleming's latest project, Homage: The Age of the Diva, reaches back to the turn of the last century, the age of silent films and the first sound recordings, and the women whose artistry helped bring it all about.Ah, I can already hear your groans about the overuse of the word "diva." True, it's a term flung about with abandon and applied randomly. But etymologically speaking, a diva is a goddess, and goddesses are very much what Fleming celebrates here. Her pantheon includes Geraldine Farrar, Mary Garden, Maria Jeritza, Lotte Lehmann, and Rosa Ponselle, adored sopranos who inspired composers, dazzled audiences, and premiered an array of musical works.Fleming's choices here include much that likely has no equal in your collection. Some material, such as the selection from Rimsky-Korsakov's Servilia, has barely been performed at all.
But it is a passionate, sensual journey, from the familiar (Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur and Puccini's Tosca) to the rare (Tchaikovsky's Oprichnik). I was particularly intrigued by Korngold's Die Kathrin, a work I'll have to explore, for obvious reasons. Listen to Fleming sing "Ich soll ihn niemals, niemals mehr sehn" and see if your heart doesn't break.
Valery Gergiev's orchestra provides the rich setting for Fleming's jewel-like voice. This is an album that positively glows.
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