Good Friday

Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, first movement, sung by soprano Katia Ricciarelli and stunning contralto Lucia Valentini.

This is truly music for Good Friday.
And any other day of the year.

Pergolesi was ill with tuberculosis and died already at the age of 26. How is it even possible to compose such profound music at such young age?

Please take a few minutes to listen. This is among the most beautiful pieces of music ever written.

Rosina's aria

From The Barber of Seville by Rossini.
Once again, Swedish mezzo soprano Malena Ernman.
This is brilliance. So playful, funny and truly excellent.

Read more about the opera here.

An aria in Lent

Listen to this new-found countertenor of mine:
Ian Howell.

He is singing from Handel's Messiah and it is beautifully illustrated with a montage of paintings by Flemish artist Jan Van Eyck (1385-1441).
This image above is by Memling.

Bartoli in full speed

Click here and let Cecilia Bartoli blow you away with the aria "Agitata da due venti" (Agitated by two winds) from Vivaldi's opera Griselda.



Lots to read about Vivaldi here.

Amazing Ernman

This is a quite astonishing performance
by mezzo Malena Ernman,
singing Nerone's lasta aria
from Handel's opera Agrippina.
Listen and be amazed here.

More, in a completely different style, from Ernman here.

Poor flowers

I want to share with you one of the most beautiful arias for soprano that I know of.
I am sorry I haven't been able to find the whole aria with Maria Callas, because I think she does it so heartbreakingly wonderful.

Poveri Fiori from the opera Adriana Lecouvreur by Cilea, in different versions :

Mirella Freni

Montserrat Caballé

Maria Callas (one minute snippet)

Find the text in both Italian and English here.
Read more about the opera, which premiered in 1902, here.

What to do without Euridice?

Dame Janet Baker,
one of the great mezzo's of the 20th century,
singing Que faró senza Euridice
from Gluck's opera Orfeo & Euridice.
Euridice has just died and Orfeo (Baker)
sings this very touching aria,
What will I do without Euridice?

Ernman + Weill = yes!!

Take a moment and listen to this Swedish mezzo soprano, in Youkali by Kurt Weill. There is nothing this singer cannot do. She sings coloratura arias while rollerskating on stage. She moves effortlessly from Carmen to cabaret songs to Ellington and back to Schubert. Her name is Malena Ernman and she is simply stunning.

Emma forever in my heart

One of my absolute favourite sopranos, English Emma Kirkby, in the aria Ich will dir mein Herze from St Matthew Passion. I usually prefer darker and rounder women's voices, but there is something extraordinary about Emma. She is so sharp, so exact, so clear. I love her singing Purcell, Pergolesi -and madrigals.

(At YouTube is also another aria, Blute nur, which is well worth listening to.)

Oh, solitude

Anne-Sofie von Otter, Swedish mezzo soprano, singing Oh, Solitude by Henry Purcell.

A Bach encounter

A while ago I found this wonderful Czech mezzo, Magdalena Kozena. Her voice is pure delight, she is perfect.

See her meeting Father Bach himself in this lovely video.

BACH: Cantata BWV 30,
Kommt ihr angefochtnen Sünder.

Find out more about Kozena here.

Andreas Scholl - a voice from heaven

For the very first day of the new year, I wanted something truly lovely.
Is this man the world's best countertenor right now? At least he is my favourite - really outstanding. Listen to his angelic voice here, singing
"Cum dederit delectis suis somnum" from Vivaldi's Nisi Dominus.
The tempo is sadly much too slow - still, that makes this stunning piece even more difficult to perform.
The video may take a while to load. Please be patient and let it run once with sound off, after that you can watch and listen without disruptions.
Enjoy!