This is intensely beautiful music-making, deeply felt and exhiliarating for the listener. The ensemble singing on this disc reminds me of the possibility of harmony in the world - inspires me. Barenboim and Bartoli get everyting right: tempi, emphasis, musical line. I only wish I had found it sooner.
October 26, 2008 |  | "Soave sia il vento" alone is worth the purchase price. |  |
I have owned this cd for ages, and it is still a favorite. Bartoli is undoubtably a great singer. If you want to hear great singing, you will not be disappointed. But, she is also a brilliant musician and interpreter if Mozart. Her "Soave sia il vento" alone is worth the purchase price.
On this cd you will hear a younger and somewhat lighter Bartoli. It was originally released back in 1996. She has a clear and light but still full Bartoli sound I prefer when listening to Mozart.
Undoubtedly Bartoli is one of the great singers of our age. I highly reommend this CD.
October 28, 2007| | | Great Mozart, uniformly good Bartoli | |
'Mozart Arias' by mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli is uniformly as good as virtually all her other albums I have heard and reviewed. The problem is that this leaves me nothing on which to recommend this album over all the other Bartoli albums, except for the fact that it is MOZART, and that is certainly something.
So, from the point of view of the relatively naive listener to classical music, who happens to have listened to a lot of albums of this sort, I say, very nice, very nice, but not really great.
June 18, 2006| | | Rich full bodied delivery of superb selections of Mozart's art | |
The rich full voice of Cecilia Bartoli really shines in these selections. I suspect that her native language of Italian is a contributing factor to the totally natural sound of her lyrics and voice. Bartoli has a dramatic flair that emerges in her delivery that seems perfect for the selections. The recordings are consistently beautiful. Bartoli is a mezzo-soprano with incredible range. Her warm voice is so welcome.
March 8, 2006This is some absolutely beautiful music by Mozart, sung wonderfully by Cecilia Bartoli. I especially love the two arias that have the obbligato for basset clarinet or basset-horn from the opera "La clemenza di Tito" K621. Mozart had already written the great Clarinet Quintet K581 for Anton Stadler, who had invented the bassett clarinet, with an extended lower range and warmer tone than the conventional clarinet. These are played very nicely by Peter Schmidl on this CD. But the highlight of this disc is the taxing Concert aria K505, with the added delight of an obbligato piano part, played with feeling by Andras Schiff. It is the best of both worlds: combining Mozart's exquisite piano writing, with orchestra, and his penning of heavenly vocal lines. Cecilia Bartoli delivers on all counts. This is an absolute MUST for all serious Mozart collectors.
October 28, 2001More reviews at Amazon.com ...
