The Norddeutschen Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester, playing superbly under Peter Schneider, are co-stars with the soloist on this CD. Braun has a good all-round voice, and only in the concluding liebestod from Tristan do you feel she might have bitten off rather too much. But there are stellar competitors in the catalogue for the other roles she sings here -- Kundry, Sieglinde, Waltraute -- as well, and many of these other tracks are impressive. This, then, is a generous and dependable CD, acceptable so long as you don't expect to hear a once-in-a-lifetime liebestod.
Finally there's A Tribute to Duke Ellington, the release on DVD of classical soprano Barbara Hendricks' appearance at the 1994 Montreux Jazz Festival. You see her in the relatively subdued setting of the Montreux Jazz Cafe; the tables look widely-spaced and you imagine ticket prices were high. She enters into the spirit of the 15 Duke Ellington numbers she sings, while at the same time hitting some quasi-operatic final notes. The Monty Alexander Trio she performs with are clearly ecstatic at her presence, and everyone seems overjoyed at her performance.
She's subsequently sung this kind of music in public quite frequently, but this was her first time. With her adopted Swedish nationality, her science degree, her championing of international causes, and now the variety of music she sings, Hendricks is a true original. This DVD will be very popular with many different kinds of audiences, and the fact that I didn't enjoy it very much myself is almost wholly irrelevant.
RSS