Angela Gheorghiu is a great soprano and a great star and has been for years. She’s a good actress, she infuses texts with meaning, and her voice is unique, with a grain through it that is instantly recognizable. She has lost none of her luster over the years. Why, then, was it necessary–or even wise–for EMI to push this, her newest recital CD, as an “Homage to Maria Callas”? It is nothing of the sort and may just anger Callas fans.
Of the 13 operas from which Gheorghiu sings arias, Callas only sang four onstage, and only two–La traviata and Medea–are heavily identified with her. The other two, Il pirata and Andrea Chenier, Callas sang less than a handful of times, although the Pirata final scene showed up in her recitals as well. When opera lovers think of Mimi or Dalila or Adriana they do not think of Callas until after a bucket-full of other singers has been culled. True, Callas recorded all of the arias on this recital CD, but so what? It’s a stupid marketing ploy.
That having been said, we can get to Gheorghiu’s work here, although I’m not going to give it much space. She’s in great voice and delivers a touching “Mimi’s farewell”; a glittering “Jewel Song” (Callas?); only the first part of the Pirata finale, without the dramatic recit that might have placed her near Callas’ readings of it, and without the cabaletta (the coward!), which leaves us with a pretty torso of an aria; a nicely dark “La mamma morta” entirely without Callas’ fire (she asked for the comparison, I didn’t); and a fine finale to Act 1 of Traviata.
Her Medea is undernourished–she refuses to lean on the voice, which Callas, Olivero, and other great Medeas have done, and so the aria (and character) loses purpose. The aria from Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur is divinely sung, with just the right tragic overtones; the Ballatella from Pagliacci is nicely perky; and her Dalila comes across as alluring enough–but Wally’s aria made me want to hear Callas.
But there’s more: the EMI website will allow you to watch a performance of a slinky Gheorghiu lip-synching to her own recording of the Habañera while a film of Maria Callas singing the same aria from a 1961 film plays in the background. At times they sing together, at times one voice supersedes the other. All you get out of it, if you listen carefully, is that Callas is simply better: her diction is clearer and more poised and she makes subtle dramatic points with a turn of phrase. Gheorghiu just sings really well. In short, this is a fine recital on its own but a repugnant concept for which the EMI marketing department should be ashamed. Sonics and accompaniments, led by Marco Armiliato, are soprano-oriented.
