This Gala Concert, taped in Auckland in February, 2004, is one of those hodge-podge collections of arias and duets (too few of the latter) designed to please everyone and showcase its stars, here, in particular, the revered and beloved Kiri Te Kanawa, now 61 and quite the heroine in her own land. She’s been rightly accused of being a bit uninvolved–some might say “shallow”–in performance, but she’s always been the possessor of a creamy, beautiful, unforced voice, utterly even from top to bottom, capable of fine dynamic shading. She also cut (and still cuts, judging from the CD cover photo) a stunning figure onstage. But I must admit that listening to her at this point in her career, particularly without visuals and as close-up as recordings are, is not a real pleasure.
She unwisely begins with “Porgi amor” and can’t keep the pitch steady at all; she’s a bit better with the “Soave sia il vento” trio from Cosi assisted by Helen Medlyn and Edward Scorgie, but the whole number sounds ill-tuned. “Morgen” by Strauss is nicely phrased and “Depuis le jour” is quite pretty, although pitch at mid-range remains iffy throughout the recital. Simon O’Neill exhibits a fine tenor in the “Flower Song”, “Nessun dorma”, the finale from Candide (although the ensemble work is sloppy), and “O soave fanciulla” (with Kiri rising to a nice high-C), although he seems uninterested in singing softly. Soprano Malvina Major shows promise both in the “Bolero” from Vespri and in “Un bel di”. The chorus is excellent in the Maori songs and in the Fledermaus and Turandot selections. Applause is mostly eliminated, and the arias run together. There’s not much grand satisfaction to be found here, but Kiri fans will know if they need this.
