Rossini: Colbran, the Muse (opera arias)

Joyce DiDonato/Orchestra dell' Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Roma/Edoardo Muller

Released on 06/10/2009 by Warner Classics
Main artists: Joyce DiDonato Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia Edoardo Muller
Genre: Classical

Available in

16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo

Unlimited Streaming

Listen to this album in high quality now on our apps

Start my trial period and start listening to this album

Enjoy this album on Qobuz apps with your subscription

Digital Download

Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs.

Many opera fans are perfectly happy to enjoy Rossini's operas without ever visiting the facts of his personal life beyond that which can be read in a program booklet. As the old saying goes, however, behind every great man there is a woman, and in Rossini's case it was Spanish diva Isabella Colbran, whom he worshiped from afar before the two became an item around 1817 -- he was 25, she 32 -- and subsequently married in 1822. Not long after they married her voice went into sharp decline; this is documented in a number of unflattering reviews from both Italy and London. Nevertheless, this did not occur before Rossini had the chance to write his most challenging and involved roles for her, and this part of his legacy is what is explored on Virgin Classics' Colbran, the Muse.
Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato is not your ordinary diva; mere months before Virgin Classics' Colbran, the Muse was released, DiDonato made the headlines when she broke her leg during a performance of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, yet finished the performance on crutches. This helped cement DiDonato's reputation as a trouper, but it is the diva -- not the trouper -- that we hear on Colbran, the Muse. While recording companies do not routinely concern themselves with exploring the legacies of singers no one can reasonably hear, to her credit DiDonato takes this project quite seriously and does her best to channel Colbran through music Rossini wrote for her. There is some controversy as to whether Colbran was a soprano or a mezzo; however, there certainly isn't anything in her music that DiDonato can't handle; moreover, she does so not only with accuracy and respect for the model but also with no small amount of sheer star power and charisma. Rossini tends to be less harder on the orchestra than on singers, and this can lead to a certain underpowered "house style" with Rossini, especially in Italy. Not so here, as Edoardo Müller and the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia approach every bar of their music with attentive dedication and a scrupulous sense of ensemble dynamics. Likewise, the chorus doesn't sound like it's in the next province, yet never covers the star of the show and is well drilled by Müller.
Virgin Classics' Colbran, the Muse is a terrific star turn for DiDonato and an especially fine tribute to an artist whose voice gave way more than 50 years before Thomas Edison developed the technological means to capture it. This quirky idea succeeds so well that opera fans might regard it as a privilege.

© TiVo

More info

Rossini: Colbran, the Muse (opera arias)

Joyce DiDonato

You are currently listening to samples.

Listen to over 100 million songs with an unlimited streaming plan.

Listen to this playlist and more than 100 million songs with our unlimited streaming plans.

From £10.83/month