Patricia Petibon — Amoureuses

Demanding repertoire, a new record company and the passage of time have allowed Patricia to tame her not-so-inner child without throttling it. In the four years since her last solo disc, her voice has matured beautifully. It's a rounder and duskier sound now, still happy in the stratosphere but now just as exciting — maybe more so — closer to earth. Her surprisingly convincing lower register occasionally puts me in mind of, of all people, Lucia Popp, while the wide-ranging repertoire suggests DG might see her as their answer to Diana Damrau.

She sings Mozart, Haydn and Gluck, theoretically a series of portraits of "women in love", although the definition is stretched to include a giggly teenager, a mother bent on vengeance and a nonsense spouting travesti role. Her "Der Hölle Rache" is magnificently vicious, although at the very top she shies away a little and sweetens her tone. Her new, improved fullness of tone is on gorgeous display in "Vorrei spiegarvi" and, best of all, in an utterly disarming "Deh vieni, non tardar". Bonus points for the inclusion of Barbarina's "L'ho perduta", surely one of the loveliest pieces of music Mozart ever produced, but such a tiny slip of an aria that nobody thinks to record it outside the opera.

The Haydn lets her play about a little more, the gibberish of "Salamelica, Semprugna cara" proving that her gift for laugh-out-loud singing is undamaged. In the Gluck arias, from Armide and Iphigénie en Tauride, she is on home ground, singing in her native tongue and thrillingly idiomatic. In the tragic dignity of her Armide, one would struggle to recognise the teenaged Barbarina, and yet both are well within her expressive grasp. Her versatility, virtuosity and her fabulous voice have surprised me all over again, and I was already an avowed devotee. I worried that the DG gloss might damage her, but the opposite is true — this recital gives her more room than perhaps she's ever had to display her many splendoured gifts to the fullest. She's supported to colourful perfection by the wonderful Concert Köln, conducted by Daniel Harding — orchestral playing as full of personality as Patricia herself. It all makes for seriously compulsive listening. I've not gone a day without hearing this CD since I bought it.

Obligatory YouTube links:
Recording sessions: "Der Hölle Rache", "Ragion nell'alma siede" and mini-documentary.
Interview on French TV, including a live performance of "Salamelica" at the end, accompanied by the fabulous Susan Manoff.

Comments

[Kostas]

Dear, we hear that THE OTHER CHERYL, the legendary American soprano, has forthcoming engagements next month nin Melbourne and Sydney. Keep us in the know.

[CaroNome]

Thanks for letting us know about her knew CD. I don't know if I can last until Christmas, so next time I'm in Barnes and Noble...

Go Patricia Petibon!!! =)

CaroNome
scoredesk.blogspot.com

[Johnny]

I got the CD two weeks ago. I'm liking the disc, especially the mix of the Mozart arias, which are well-known to me, and a bounty of pieces I don't know by Haydn and Gluck. The aural production is bright and clear, the orchestra sounds wonderful -- light and rich at the same time with lots of details -- and Petibon's voice is full of many colors and nuances.

Her voice seems darker -- my sense is that it is a combination of a natural maturing of her instrument and an intentional covering she is
doing for effect in these pieces.

Is her top starting to spread a bit? On some notes above the stave, the vibrato gets a bit wild, misaligned with the rest of the voice.

K.418 -- my favorite number one aria of all-time! -- she captures the mood swings of the piece very well -- from a very dreamy atmosphere for the main aria, then a switch to an alert urgency for the second section, without overdoing it. However, I think she employs a bit too much of what might be called her "early music" style in the first part, holding back the vibrato and singing in a straight tone for some phrases. Not a deal breaker, but it is distracting to me and creates a tension that I think detracts from the aria.

The Gluck pieces are totally new to me and I'm enjoying getting to know them. I wonder if they are traditionally sung by bigger voices -- none seem particularly florid.

She is on "good behavior" -- I heard only two idiosyncratic moments where she does that dreadful "moaning on pitch" thing for dramatic effect.

Petibon is an expressive, interesting singer who is expanding her "brand" to include more dramatic material than her earlier repertoire
mix, which was basically a combination of soubrette, baroque, and "quirky" coloratura things.

If you like Petibon, I wager you'll like the disc. If you don't like Petibon, you still might like it.