PRAYERS.(Review)

Sumi Jo [] "PRAYERS" Arias, solos, songs by Bellini, Bernstein, Caccini, Donizetti, Faure, Gounod, Loewe, Schubert et al.; with Su. Graham; Gurzenich-Orchester/Kolner Philharmoniker, Conlon; Conlon, piano. Partial texts and translations. Erato 8573-85772-2

Sumi Jo seems impatient with typecasting. The extra edge she can bring to a coloratura role such as Gilda suggests an interest in heavier fare, while a string of hit recordings testifies to her pop-music skills. Her latest recital disc takes an elastic approach to the term "prayer" (packing in spirituals, sacred texts, opera, operetta and musical-comedy numbers) in a slightly aggressive display of versatility.

She leads off strongly, with a sultry, liquid middle voice for Ravel's "Kaddisch" that some Carmens might envy, followed by virginal radiance in the celebratory "Laudate Dominum" from Mozart's Vesperae K. 339. Contrasts just keep coming -- silken bel canto flexibility for "Giusto ciel" from Rossini's L'Assedio di Corinto, succeeded by broad-toned hymnal entreaty in Pie Jesu from the Faure Requiem. In a rarity by Zbiegniew Preisner (from his 1955 Requiem for a Friend), the repeated arched phrases find Jo touching just the top of each note. Conversely, she works from below the melody, all soul and undertone, in a surprisingly effective "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" -- surprising after her country-tinged but overdone "Amazing Grace." Mezzo Susan Graham joins her for "Take Care of this House," from the Bernstein/Lerner musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. There's more, though, than just dark or light on the menu.

Something interesting occurs in the earliest selection, an Ave Maria by Giulio Caccini (ca. 1550-1610), one of the pioneer opera composers. Where some interpreters might mimic the whitened tones of hyper-orthodox early-music ...