A great compilation of songs and arias from this excellent singer. Solti noted her "double cream" voice. Most of the works have been released before but form a survey of the range of eras and styles the American diva performs so well. This month she sang from the Buckingham Palace balcony.
Here Placido Domingo is the tenor with her in Bernstein's Somewhere (West Side Story) and Bryn Terfel duets in Wheels of a Dream. The other 16 solo tracks include great operatic arias: Casta Diva, Ebben? Ne andro lontana, Un bel di vedremo, etc.
In encore vein, exquisitely sung, are Summertime, Amazing Grace, You'll never walk alone, Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, and both Schubert and Bach's versions of Ave Maria.
Grizzle: Booklet has white type on light grey!
Conductor Antoni Wit and the Warsaw Phil are winning many plaudits on this label.
They impress again with three more works by Janacek (1854-1928). The "Rhapsody" Taras Bulba is based on Gogol's novel about a Cossack revolt, in which the Poles are villains but the Polish orchestra gets cheers as the hero in its performance.
The brass particularly pleases in the climax to the first movement and thrilling first part of the finale. Other sections are also impeccable and fine solos emerge throughout. Both Dances are from Janacek's early period, and the Moravian Dances are hard to find on disc, the brief Kalamajka best of its five dances. The Lachian Dances has six movements, the frenzied Blacksmith's Dance most ear-catching.
Highlight: climactic battle scene of Taras Bulba.
