Emma’s Mozart.
- Mozart Arias.
Coloratura Emma Matthews is a Principal of the Australian Opera, having started her career as an Opera Australia young artist in 1993. She possesses, in abundance, a natural upper range, and the agility of a leading bel canto singer.
No role more so than that of Lucia in Donizetti’s ‘Lucia di Lammermoor‘ shows off Ms. Matthews’ capabilities. Emma undertook this role in Opera Australia’s production in 2012; and the reviewers commented on her conquering with ease the vocal demands, also observing that she took dramatic risks that more conservative singers of earlier generations would never have imagined.
On this CD, we hear the following:
Mozart:
Lieve sono al par del viento (from Il sogno di Scipione)
Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben (from Zaïde)
Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio! K418
Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen (from Die Zauberflöte)
Ah, lo previdi… Ah, l’invola agl’occhi miei, K272
Ach, ich fühl’s (from Die Zauberflöte, K620)
Ah se in ciel, benigne stelle, K538
Dove sono i bei momenti (from Le nozze di Figaro)
Voi avete un cor fedele, K217
Performed by Emma Matthews (soprano), with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Marko Letonja conducting.
Of all composers, the mood and emotions in Mozart’s music are the most diverse: they range from risqué to somber, and from joy to the deepest depths of despair.
Ms. Matthews encapsulates all of these emotions with her natural intuition, from her command and depth of tone in the ‘Queen of the Night Aria’, to the more subdued Pamina aria “Ach, ich fühl’s” from the Magic Flute.
This recording is a terrific blend of well-known arias, with a few lesser – known ones, yet the Mozartarian flavor is in abundance throughout.
Gramophone Magazine, August 2014, wrote:
“Matthews sets out her stall with a busy, generalized aria from the 15-year-old composer’s Il sogno di Scipione, the coloratura absolutely spot-on both in rhythm and pitch…Matthews captures the varying emotions of ‘Ah, lo previdi’.”
Here is Ms. Mathews with a brief talk about this CD:
And next, here is Emma Matthews singing the Bell Aria from the opera “Lakme “:
Finally, here is Australian soprano Emma Matthews singing ‘Sempre Libera’ (‘Always free’) from Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata:
http://youtu.be/y6RWtvxgzVg
Tags: Emma Mathews, soprano, Mozart, Lakme, La Traviata