"ANGELS HIDE THEIR FACES".(Review)

Dawn Upshaw

[] "ANGELS HIDE THEIR FACES" Songs by Purcell; cantata BWV 199 by J. S. Bach, "Mein Herz schwimmt in Blut." With chamber ensemble. Texts and translations. Nonesuch 79605-2

Dawn Upshaw's previous Nonesuch recordings of American songs and arias have demonstrated her refusal to be pigeonholed as "just" an opera singer. Now the intrepid diva stakes out a claim to Baroque territory, in repertoire that has become almost exclusively the province of historical-performance specialists.

The results are attractive. It's most refreshing to hear this music treated with the expressive resources available to a fully developed operatic voice. I'm not referring to sheer volume, which, in and of itself, doesn't really serve opera well, either. But where most "authentic" practitioners can only tread gingerly and monochromatically through Purcell's vocal lines, Upshaw applies a full dynamic spectrum to the music, coloring words and even harmonies with a varied expressive palette, filling out the melodic contours with handsome tone.

In the most familiar Purcell songs, the singer is, if anything, too reticent, reining in her rosy lyric voice and allowing the peaks of phrases to whiten, although the repeated, perfectly placed "drop"s in "Music for a While" are evocative. But Upshaw rises to the opportunities for drama and contrast elsewhere. "Ah! How Sweet It Is to Love" is naturally, musically inflected, with an easy, attractive lyricism. "Lord, What Is Man?" once past the rather uptight opening recitative, is comfortably round and full-throated. In "The Blessed Virgin's Lament," practically an opera scena, Upshaw's ...