Search - Charles Mackerras, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Lisa Beznosiuk :: Ruth Ann Swenson: Endless Pleasure: Handel & Mozart Arias

Heavenly music from a heavenly singer

sstadler | Rome, Italy | 10/02/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The reviewer from San Francisco is wildly inaccurate. Swenson sings VERY passionately, conveying the text. Endless Pleasure is NOT from Giulio Cesare, it is from the opera Semele, so the characterzation is differnt. The real pleasure here though, are the Handel selections, sung with such technical prowess, she will take your breath away, especially in "Myself I Shall Adore". This is Baroque opera sung at its finest and is a good introduction to the genre. The whole mood of the album is sunny and fresh and is the perfect CD for a Sunday afternoon."

A bland misfire from a good singer and conductor

E. Willinger | New York, NY USA | 11/04/1999

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Ruth Ann Swenson is a highly accomplished and enjoyable singer, but not an all-purpose one. Her rich, full tone, accurate coloratura, easy high notes and beautiful trill work wonderfully in "Rigoletto" and in "La Sonnambula," for example; she seems dramatically committed and engaged in those roles, too. Here, she seems detached, clueless and stylistically at sea -- neither her tone nor her phrasing conveys the luscious sensuousness of Semele's arias, and her Mozart is similarly bland and uncomprehending. It's surprising that Charles Mackerras, usually a superb and enlivening conductor of both these composers' music, could not stimulate or lead her to something better."

Excellent recording

10/28/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I own every recording that Swenson has ever done. (which isn't any kind of unusual feat, she is terribly under-recorded) This one shows off her ease with the challenges of Handel and Mozart. "Myself I Shall Adore" is sung with an amusing sense of playful vanity--not to mention the accuracy and sheer beauty of her fioratura and trills. Swenson moves her voice with quicksilver speed. Every note is articulated. I love the intimate way she caresses Handel's intoxicatingly lovely, "V'adoro pupille." Caesar would have been utterly charmed. My favorite item on the disc is her "Parto m'affretto." It's filled with a true heroine's pathos and seamless coloratura. Her staccatti are spectacular. A very passionate and gorgeous performance that will bring you endless pleasure."