A champagne commercial during a football game was my introduction to Kiri Te Kanawa back in the early nineties. It was before I had a home computer — no YouTube, and no Google. It took several long-distance phone calls, including one to the distillery, but I was persistent. The soundtrack to the commercial was
“O mio babbino caro” — a Puccini aria. I was hooked. Now it’s football season again and my musical tastes return to opera.
My interests quickly evolved into Wagner’s Ring Cycle and then into live performances by the Baton Rouge Opera. While I never learned to speak any foreign languages, opera — with or without the supertitles — spoke to me on other levels. The thrill of a live performance, the emotion of the cast, the amazement of seeing and hearing a diva open her mouth and have such amazing sounds come out all grabbed me like an octopus's many tentacles. In high school chorus I had witnessed young singers struggling to reach difficult notes, but someone like Kiri Te Kanawa does it effortlessly, and repeatedly. Marvelous!
Kiri Te Kanawa Sings Mozart and R. Strauss is a two-CD set and was released on August 3. There are no new recordings on the album as it is a compilation of Ms. Te Kanawa’s previously recorded material. The selections are divided by composer, one CD for each. The first disc opens with two selections from Le nozze di Figaro by Mozart and is a reminder of her first appearance at London’s Royal Opera House in that same opera. The New Zealander was twenty-seven years old at the time and what a future awaited. The listings do not provide the dates of each individual track in this collection but it doesn’t matter. Her voice is strong, clear, and precise on every one. Two of the last four Mozart tracks are concert arias, “Bella mia fiamma, addio...Resta, o cara, K528” and “nehmt meinen Dank ihr holden Gonner!, K383.”
Article comments
1 - Lynn Voedisch
I adore Kiri Te Kanawa. But with football? Well, I don't care for football, so I guess you know my feelings on that. I also loathe Wagner and the whole Ring cycle madness, but Mozart! I'll raise a toast to him! Great review. And nice to see you branching out (although I guess I'll have to tussle with you for classical assignments).
We all like our Kiri in different ways.
2 - Reese McKay
What is there not to like about Kiri? She's magnificent in every way. Mozart opera is truly divine, nothing finer in all of classical music. I would have to agree with the previous comments by Lynn about Wagner. But opera is a pretty big ocean, room enough for many tastes and styles. I've rarely thought about football together with opera, but why not?
3 - Musictodiefor
I love Kiri and love opera when she sings it...but not otherwise as an art form! I
saw and heard her in Cologne in April 2010 and she was a beautiful Marshallin AGAIN!! I read somewhere that when the movie Room With A View premiered in NYC the audience applauded and went nuts when Kiri's "O Mio"
was played. It was recorded in the early 80's so it was not done for the movie but people didn't know that.
4 - John Wilson
Always a pleasure to hear Kiris wonderful voice.