COMPOSERS: Bellini,Donizetti,Gounod,Massenet & Rossini
LABELS: Sony
WORKS: Arias by Bellini, Donizetti, Gounod, Massenet & Rossini
PERFORMER: Nino Machaidze (soprano); Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna/ Michele Mariotti
CATALOGUE NO: Sony 88697847042
In her debut album, the young soprano Nino Machaidze tears into roles with an energy that leaves the listener breathless. She produces a top note that would kill at half a mile to silence the chorus in the closing pages of ‘Ah! Non giunge’ from
La sonnambula.
While Machaidze’s tone occasionally may be uneven, with not every listener warming to the Eastern European burr in the voice, you have to admire her finely honed technique. This is a voice that has been scrupulously prepared and the hard work shows in ‘O luce di quest’anima’ from Linda di Chamounix and Lucia’s cavatina Regnava nel silenzio, with an elegant harp solo from a member of the admirable Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna.
So what is missing? In a word, character. Where’s the vulnerable Amina, or Lucia trembling on the edge of madness from her first moment on stage? These may come, but by then Machaidze will probably have climbed another rung to her pre-destined role as a Verdi soprano. Christopher Cook