This recording, captured live at the London Coliseum in 1977, finds Dame Janet Baker at her absolute best–which is saying a great deal about a singer who probably never had an off night. Norman Tucker’s English translation runs somewhat hot and cold; it can be correctly poetic but also comes across as stilted and awkward at times. But Dame Janet is the show’s calling card: Her remarkable control over dyanimics is all important to the role of Charlotte. One senses her holding back, with great propriety, for the first two acts; her tone invariably white and soft and rarely singing above mezzoforte at all. By the time we meet her in the third act, her sadness has overcome her, and as her sense of foreboding grows so does the pressure she puts on her vibrato. A brilliant portrayal. Sadly, although John Brecknock is never less than mellifluous and, as usual with this fine artist, very sensitive to the text, his voice has neither the focus of Alfredo Kraus or Nicolai Gedda nor the warmth of Carreras or Domingo, let alone the “everything” of Georges Thill. Brecknock tries, but he’s wearing clothes that are far too big for him. Patrick Wheatley strikes the correct note as Albert and Joy Roberts’ Sophie doesn’t cloy. Sir Charles Mackerras leads the ENO forces with understanding and feeling and the playing and singing are first rate. The recording is good and clean, but the dynamic levels are bizarrely low. Fans of Dame Janet will have to own this; others will stick with Thill/Vallin or, more sonically desirable, Carreras or Kraus.
