Search - Andrea Falconieri, Marco Marazzoli, Juan de Navas :: Sopra la Rosa

Promising singer makes slightly dull material exciting

M. Tietjen | Syracuse, NY, USA | 08/29/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Arianna Savall is the daughter of Jordi Savall and Montserrat Figueras, who has sung a few times with her mother and can be seen on one of the DVD and video releases of Monteverdi's "Orfeo." She's one of the more promising of the young generation of early music singers, and in fact her pure, straight tone is at least as pretty as her mother's when she was younger. She could easily become the leading interpreter of the unique style of pre-Baroque early music that belonged to her mother, exemplified by some of the Sibil-la chants that are among the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard.This album is far too short, being only about 50 minutes or so, and three of the seven tracks are instrumental. The tracks that aren't instrumental are beautifully sung, and in smaller doses would do well to supplement a more interesting album, but they are far too long and slightly too dull to support an entire album. Luckily for us, Savall's beautiful voice makes these a lot easier to listen to. I also appreciate that this is the premier recording for some or all of these songs. However, her voice would be put to better use singing something a little more interesting."