Opera Now (Apr, 2017)
In 1957, a young mezzo called Grace Bumbry featured in a musty recording of Israel in Egypt led by Maurice Abravanel, the first of a series of Handel oratorios which marked her early career in the studio. Aged just 20, the singer already had glamorous timbre and admirably homogeneous vocal technique. She displayed a natural gravity, even in ‘Their Land Brought Frogs’, where harpsichord leaps evoking a batrachian plague can provoke giggles. Bumbry gives us the minimal agility required without showing much potential for coloratura. Overall, the performance lacks zing due to complacent orchestra, soloists, and choir.
A version of Handel’s Judas Maccabeus has the American soprano Martina Arroyo in muted …
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