Jane Eaglen. (Recital).(Review)

[] "ITALIAN OPERA ARIAS" Arias by Puccini, Cilea, Mascagni, Ponchielli, Boito and Catalani. Philharmonia, Rizzi. Sony Classical SK 89443

Jane Eaglen, whose ample voice and magnificent, gleaming top notes have brought her success in the Wagner canon, seems like a fish out of water in her new album of Italian verismo favorites. Whose idea was it to have her record this repertoire, anyway? And if this last question seems impertinent, then one more must be asked: why does Eaglen seem so uninvolved in these gripping characters?

Let's start at the very beginning. The first cut is Madama Butterfly's all-too famous "Un bel di." Here, in an against-all-odds testament to the glories of self-deception, Puccini paints the opening sequence in a succession of descending thirds and fourths as Cio-Cio-San, watching from atop a hill, envisions the smoke of Pinkertons ship rising far away on the horizon. Eaglen starts with a smoky sound, which fits, but in winding her way down the hill, she is stingy with portamento and devoid of portando. Later, Butterfly describes the coy way she will wait atop the hill for Pinkerton to find her: "Mi metto la sul ciglio del colle e aspetto gran tempo, e non mi pesa la lunga attesa" (I'll place myself there on the hill and wait a long time, and the long wait will not weigh me down). Neither coyness nor patience nor expectancy is heard in Eaglen's voice; rather, she sounds a bit tentative. Perhaps a personal stamp, a bit of urgency on the words "Chi sara? chi sara?" as Butterfly picks Pinkerton out in the faraway crowd? Not here. At the return of the aria's theme, with the words "per non morir," we usually hear Butterflies scream their lungs out to show how they are dying to see their returned lovers, even as they hold themselves back -- sample Scotto sometime for gut-wrenching vigor. But Eaglen is, alas, ho-hum: pretty and full but noncommittal. The orchestra does its best to provide a climax the soprano misses.

And on and on. I could not find a single aria on this disc for which I couldn't think of another recorded ...