What a story! Angela. The woman, the career, the discs.

PALERMO, October 2017. – Charming, funny, mischievous, open, this is the impression that Angela Gheorghiu gave us when we at Qobuz met her recently for the release of her latest album. You have to be wary of reputations, and especially of the one that paints Gheorghiu only as a capricious shrew. More than that, she’s a woman who reflects upon the image she gives off… and who wants to do her best. She struggles against what Philippe Beaussant called “Malscène” (junk scene) in an essay published in 2005 —as we say junk food in the world of cuisine. In tune with the academician and musicologist deceased in 2016, Angela Gheorghiu fights a desperate battle against directors who, according to her, destroy the masterpieces of lyrical art by denaturing them instead of serving them.

She’s a free woman. “Sempre libera” Violetta sings frantically, to which Tosca seems to answer in echo “Vissi d’arte, vissi d’amore” (I lived on art, I lived on love). Traviata and Tosca are two heroines worthy of Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu’s voice and personality. “I’ve always been aware that I’m unconventional,” she admits bluntly. “I lead my life as I see fit.” She’s got a dark, powerful and sultry voice, it’s been said she combines Callas qualities with the ones from Tebaldi… Angela Gheorghiu maintains not having any role models (“you must not have any when you’re an artist”), she works on her roles alone, without a pianist, a tutor or a coach. No role models, Angela? She’s not without admirations however, as she likes to evoke with enthusiasm the voice and personality of Renata Tebaldi and speaks with great emotion of Virginia Zeani, her fellow countrywoman, who also started in the Traviata and whom she would sing for over 600 times throughout her career. Both artists feel a sincere admiration for one another.

After studying at the National University of Music in Bucharest under the communist dictator Ceausescu (“Because growing up in a country where any personal opinion was impossible made me stronger.”), Angela Gheorghiu began her international career in 1992 in Covent Garden, Vienna and New York. Two years later, she scores an authentic triumph at the Royal Opera House in the Traviata under the direction of Georg Solti. Recorded, filmed and released by DECCA on CD and DVD, this production launched her international career. Her marriage and her falling in and out of love with tenor Roberto Alagna make the headlines of society magazines, and she enjoys a string of successes. If the volcanic nature of her personality caused some turmoil in the small and passionate world of opera, where sensitivities are heightened, everyone agrees about the singer’s art and her acting quality that pushed her to the heights of today’s singing. Her heroines—Tosca, Marguerite, Mimi, Cio-Cio-San, Carmen, Violetta, Adriana Lecouvreur, Charlotte, Manon—get the approval from the lovers of fine singing throughout the world.

Angela Gheorghiu also gladly does recitals, and she doesn’t hesitate to mix styles, alternating with the same professionalism between Gluck, Paolo Tosti, Romanian composers and Jacques Brel’s songs. Absent from the studios for six years, she just recorded a highly anticipated album, Eternamente, dedicated to verismo, with extracts from operas by Puccini, Mascagni and Leoncavallo, some in duo with tenor Joseph Calleja, under the direction of French conductor Emmanuel Villaume, the current director of the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, who also pens this disc released by WARNER CLASSICS.

A rich harvest of discs

Since her sensational beginnings at Covent Garden, the record industry has taken an interest in the new diva and the majors, mainly EMI CLASSICS and DECCA, allowed her to make many recordings. Her flattering and photogenic appearance has also contributed to film performances that are now available on DVD.

Everything started in 1994 with the much talked about Traviata, which immediately promoted the young woman at the rank of “diva assoluta”. It must be said that, for her beginnings at Covent Garden, the old maestro Solti did everything in his power so that “his” opera singer could sing in the best possible conditions (he had been blown away by the young woman during her audition for the role). Angela still remembers it clearly: “He literally pampered me”, she said. During dress, Sir Georg doesn’t hesitate to leave his wand to an assistant in order to test the acoustics in every possible corner of the room, to be completely sure of the balance between Violetta’s voice and the orchestra. Sure of his new recruit and of Solti’s beginnings (at 82 years old!) on Verdi’s masterpiece, DECCA had provided for an audio and video recording of the Richard Eyre’s production, which was both elegant and classic. For his first Traviata, Solti had high philological demands and had insisted that his version be complete and consistent with everything Verdi wrote, without taking into account every bad habit accumulated throughout the years that ended up becoming questionable “traditions”. “Tradition equals sloppiness”, Gustav Mahler had already said in Vienna.

Entering her career in such a way set the bar very high for the young Romanian singer, who has not disappointed since. She is known for some great discographic successes, either complete opera recordings or recitals.

Unfortunate heroines

The description of Angela Gheorghiu’s discography would be incomplete without mentioning the many recitals that she devoted to other unfortunate heroines, the ones from Verdi in particular. In her album Homage to Maria Callas, she fearlessly covers the tunes that made her distant colleague famous. Other discs are reflections of recitals recorded live. In My World, marked by eclecticism, she offers to explore her journeys and her own music world, where love is king. It’s introduced as an incipit by the everlasting Plaisir d’amour from Martini, then developed by twenty composers or so, some of them unexpected. Angela Gheorghiu’s discography is marked by the care she puts in every repertoire she tackles and by a constant curiosity.

Translated by Edward Maltby.