IL TENERO MOMENTO.(Review)

Susan Graham

[] "IL TENERO MOMENTO" Arias by Mozart and Gluck. Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Bicket. Texts, no translations. Erato 8573-85768-2

Susan Grahams restless intelligence has taken the lyric mezzo soprano in many directions: traditional travesti roles of Mozart and Richard Strauss, florid and dramatic repertoire of Handel and Gluck, Berlioz's Beatrice and Marguerite, as well as lieder, chansons, Ned Rorem songs and the world premiere of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking. In everything she approaches, Graham gives the impression of being conscientious -- almost to a fault -- and never leaves one with the feeling that she is spread too thin. In live performance, her vocal and physical beauty and incisive interpretations can create memorable moments. In the recording studio, the unique energy and spontaneity of this connoisseur's diva are difficult to capture.

Graham's latest release from Erato presents the mezzo in arias of Mozart and Gluck, all but Gluck's Iphigenie representing the sort of trouser roles in which she has excelled onstage. The recital opens with Paride's "O del mio dolce ardor" from Gluck's Paride ed Elena, certainly an example of the composer's melodic simplicity at its most sublime. Graham delivers a seamless reading, just missing the transcendent emotional state achieved by some of her less stylistically hip predecessors. Le Nozze di Figaro's "Non so piu" and "Voi che sapete" are nicely vocalized; the former shaded with a lovely sympathetic hue, but a bit too loaded with affect to suggest a truly ingenuous Cherubino. Sesto's two arias from La Clemenza di Tito are impressive; "Parto, parto" feels a bit restrained in the adagio section, but the allegro finale is breathtaking in its accuracy and conveys beautifully the sense of Sesto's reeling from the persuasive sensuality of Vitellia's beauty and his anticipation of the horrific act of vengeance he has promised on her behalf. (The basset clarinet obbligato is handled stunningly by Antony Pay.) If anything is missing here, it is some of the gravity and depth of emotion that Tatiana Troyanos seemed to supply ...