Teresa Cardoso de Menezes turns up here, in her CD recital debut, as a fully-developed coloratura-lyric, with musicality, a nice tone, and some fine individual touches. The coloratura of “Je veux vivre” holds no fears for her, Adele’s Laughing Song from Fledermaus is nicely put across (without exaggeration), and her Figaro Susanna is knowing and poised. I feel less good about her Pamina, which is missing the perfection of line Mozart requires, and her Giulietta from Bellini’s Capuleti ed i Montecchi disappoints interpretively: she rushes through the recitative and though her singing of the aria itself is pretty enough, it’s entirely lacking in pathos–an amazing feat. Her “Depuis le jour” is stunning; “Les filles de Cadix” has nice brio. She’ll grow into a nice Mimi judging from the aria here; Violetta’s depth (though not her pyrotechnics) may be a bit much. But she’s a singer to watch. Accompaniments are nice and unobtrusive and sound is fine.
