Search - Ewa Podles, Ottorino Respighi, Michal Nesterowicz :: Ewa Podles: Respighi - Gli Uccelli/Il Tramonto/Trittico Botticelliano

Surges to the Top of the Recommendations

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 10/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This offering from a fairly obscure Polish label, Dux, took my breath away with its wonderful performances and lifelike recorded sound. The drawing card for most, probably, is the marvelous Polish contralto Ewa Podles but truth to tell she only sings for about five or six minutes in Respighi's 'Tramonto' ('Sunset'). Her voice and her musicianship are among today's treasures and this performance is certainly evidence of that. But what blew me away even more in this recording is the playing of the Wroclaw Chamber Orchestra (Wroclaw used to be better-known as Breslau), a group I'd never heard of before. It's a smallish group and their playing is fully the equal of other chamber orchestras in the top tier. Their strings in particular are silky and capable of absolute unanimity of attack and release. Tuning is impeccable. Pianissimi are ravishing, yet they are capable of rich, lush, deep massed string tone. This is the finest performance of the Botticelli Triptych I've ever heard. Each of 'The Birds' is fully characterized. Superior performances throughout.



It is amazing that the conductor here, Michal Nesterowicz, is in his early twenties! This is definitely a name to remember. I'll be on the lookout for any further recordings he makes with this group. Although Podles's picture is featured on the cover of this CD, Nesterowicz should be featured along with her as he is the hero of this set of performances.



A strong endorsement.



Scott Morrison"