Arias russes

Description

How can one be objective in reviewing this recital? Kasarova has become rarer on disc in recent years, and we miss her. In her maturity, despite tighter high notes, the voice retains its qualities, grounded in solid technique, the only condition for longevity. The timbre has even grown richer in dark colors. Her shading in Marfa’s invocation makes us want to hear the singer as Ulrica and Azucena. One admires the nobility of her phrasing in "La Vie pour le Tsar", her dramatic sense in Jeanne d’Arc’s farewell, her Rossinian playfulness in "Le Convive de Pierre". Only one - alas - Lied recital (RCA, 1999) bears witness to this art of delivery, which gives us a Lyubasha monologue (The Tsar’s Bride) heartbreaking in its desolation, and above all an aria of the Countess (The Queen of Spades), carried by an hypnotic mezza-voce. Pavel Baleff lifts his Baden Baden Philharmonie to the level of its soloist. I feel my heart beating, beating… Listen to this splendid record, and you will know why… (Olivier Gutierrez)