"HANDEL/J.S. BACH ARIAS".(Review)

Stephanie Blythe [] "HANDEL/J.S. BACH ARIAS" Arias from Giulio Cesare, Serse, Semele, Hercules, St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, Mass in B minor. Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Nelson. Virgin Classics 45475

Once in a blue moon, there comes a voice that, unheralded and unhyped, makes one sit up and take notice in the opera house. About five years ago, I was attending a performance of Britten's Peter Grimes at the Met with a friend from London. When the young mezzo performing the small role of Auntie began to sing, my friend and I both popped up in our seats, like two pieces of toast, and began leafing frantically through the program for the cast list. She and I both knew immediately that we were hearing an "important" voice. The Met's Auntie that night was Stephanie Blythe.

Since that time, the world at large has begun to become aware of Blythe's abundant gifts, through broadcast performances of Giulio Cesare from the Met, her richly entertaining recitals and (for lucky New Yorkers) her performance of the title role in Offenbach's La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein, for L'Opera Francais de New York, in which she both sparkled and touched the heart. Sparkling is something the mezzo does not get to do on this CD, composed largely of rather somber excerpts, but she does get to suffer lyrically and rage thunderously, and she does so with consistent richness and beauty of tone, as well as her customary unfussy directness.

Blythe's first big attention-getter at the Met was Cornelia in Giulio Cesare, which may account for a debut album comprised mainly of Handel arias. But she is a versatile performer, already having proved herself in roles as diverse as Fricka and Carmen, and one hopes that Virgin Classics will soon showcase other facets of her artistry as well. The disc opens with "Ombra mai fu" from Serse. Blythe's tone is arresting, and her imposing vocal presence is exploited at its best in recitative; her "Frondi tenere" immediately establishes person, place and emotional context with great authority. The aria itself is lovely but could have used a decoration or two to animate it. Dejanira's haunted and tormented outpourings in "Where shall I fly?" from Hercules are particularly in line with the mezzo's temperament and vocal range. Here she receives wonderfully sensitive support from John Nelson in building a scena of intensity and power. Blythe's ripeness of voice takes on point when necessary to underline text, but she is also capable of expressing vulnerability and scaling down, lending variety of delivery while never pointing up effects. In the ...