In the old days--say, 10 or 15 years ago--in order for a label to offer a compilation for a performer, said performer had to have a substantial body of work and a fine, indeed, starry reputation; perhaps the compilation was to introduce him or her to a larger public, to whet its appetite. Well, in the years between May, 2007 and January, 2010 (the eons between the first and last recording sessions represented here) Danielle de Niese apparently has earned her place in the firmament with Maria Callas, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and Jascha Heifetz. Decca has reached deep into its vaults and retrieved both of her CDs. Mining the gold has resulted in a 13-track CD with three heretofore unheard selections.As I've written before, de Niese is a consummate performer and somewhat of a feast for the eyes. Her voice is recognizable, appealing, and has an interesting grain running through it. Though she has succeeded mostly in pre-1800 opera, she sings with plenty of vibrato and is decidedly un-"authentic". There's nothing wrong with that.
But just to get the really bad news out of the way, Mozart's Exsultate jubilate, here represented by the opening and closing movements (don't bore the audience with the slow stuff), is still as awful as it sounded on the Mozart album from which it is taken: a 14-year-old girl exulting and jubilating about getting her first Barbie doll, or worse, a religious lunatic you get stuck sitting next to on a bus. And the lunatic has no trill. The "La ci darem" with Bryn Terfel is lovely and avoids exaggerated coyness; Donna Elvira suits de Niese's aggressive manner, and the Laudate Dominum is ravishing.
The Handel arias, five of them taken from her first CD, are quite good, with William Christie keeping de Niese at her best: "Lascia ch'io pianga" is almost foolproof, but de Niese is particularly lovely--mournful enough but musically impeccable. Cleopatra is very much in her blood, and both arias are finely sung, save for a truly unsupported low note or three. Similarly, both of Semele's arias are charming, sung with a lighter tone and great self-assurance.
The three new tracks are interesting. The first is "based on four bars of an aria from Handel's cantata La Lucrezia," with music by Morgan Pochin, apparently a composing and arranging duo (James Morgan and Juliette Pochin, a mezzo-soprano called "The Domestic Diva" in Great Britain, I'm told) who are best known for their work with Katherine Jenkins and a handful of rock stars. Its three minutes sounds like Romanticized Handel, which is what it is, but it's very pretty and prettily sung. The pair also has set Alessandro Marcello's oboe concerto (the slow movement) to a poem by Petrarch for de Niese. The melody is a beautiful lament--it's called "Pace non trovo"--which, happily, I can translate, since no texts or translations are included. De Niese sings it with long lines and lovely legato. Both it and the Handel reworking are insubstantial.
The third new track is by Karl Jenkins, once a jazz musician, then a composer of advertising music and a participant in the first studio performance of the 1973 phenomenon "Tubular Bells", which was Virgin Records' first CD and the theme song to The Exorcist. His brief setting of Exsultate jubilate for de Niese is great fun, with chugging strings and high-strung vocal line giving way to a more mellow middle section before returning to the "A" section with some wildly exciting high B-naturals. Except for the attempted and failed trills, the singing is joyous.
In other words, if you own the fine Handel album and do not need the Karl Jenkins piece, well, it's up to you. I wonder when "The Best of..." or "Danielle de Niese--A Retrospective" will appear.
