The New Yorker Magazine

The New Yorker Magazine

December 3, 2009

2009: Ten Exceptional Recordings

Posted by Alex Ross
Opera fans are a contentious lot, furiously sparring over the relative worth of leading singers, but a rare consensus has emerged around Joyce DiDonato, the down-to-earth mezzo with the gleaming voice and charming blog. She has the technique, the passion, the musical intelligence, and the instinct for the next right move. On her new collection of Rossini arias, inspired by the early nineteenth-century diva Isabella Colbran, DiDonato proceeds effortlessly from the prayerful lyricism of “Giusto ciel, in tal periglio” to the gleeful coloratura of “Bel raggio lusinghier” and on to the demonic rage of the “Armida” finale (audio above; crank it up). This finely dazzling disc is my pick for the best CD of 2009.

The test of a great recording is whether you find yourself temporarily unable to live without it. For certain overlapping periods this year, I couldn’t stop listening to the Ebène Quartet’s hyper-lyrical renditions of Debussy, Ravel, and Fauré; to Mark Padmore’s psychologically raw “Winterreise”; and to Ann Southam’s immense, mysterious piano piece “Simple Lines of Enquiry.” Stile Antico’s radiant singing of the Clemens non Papa motet “Ego flos campi” heightened an idyllic late-summer run through the Sunken Forest on Fire Island; the Jack Quartet’s beautifully harsh Xenakis roared from my rented-car stereo during a drive into Death Valley. Lately, I’ve fallen under the autumnal spell of “Notturno,” a song cycle for baritone and string quartet by the twentieth-century Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck. On an immaculate ECM production, Christian Gerhaher sings with hushed intensity, and the infinitely gentle C-major chaconne that enters at the end is like a secret gift to the patient listener.

“Colbran, the Muse”: Rossini Arias; Joyce DiDonato, Edoardo Müller conducting the Orchestra and Chorus of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rome (Virgin Classics)

“Song of Songs”: Works by Palestrina, Gombert, Lassus, Victoria, Clemens, Guerrero, Lhéritier, Ceballos, Vivanco; Stile Antico (Harmonia Mundi)

Ravel, Debussy, Fauré, String Quartets; Ebène Quartet (Virgin Classics) [released in 2008, belatedly discovered in 2009]

Schubert, “Winterreise”; Mark Padmore, Paul Lewis (Harmonia Mundi)

Ann Southam, “Simple Lines of Enquiry”; Eve Egoyan (Centrediscs)

David Lang, “The Little Match Girl Passion”; Paul Hillier, Theatre of Voices and Ars Nova Copenhagen (Harmonia Mundi)

Xenakis, String Quartets; Jack Quartet (Mode)

Othmar Schoeck, “Notturno”; Christian Gerhaher, Rosamunde Quartet (ECM)

Mozart, Piano Concertos Nos. 23 and 24: Mitsuko Uchida, Cleveland Orchestra (Decca)

Messiaen, “St. Francis of Assisi”; Rod Gilfry, Hubert Delamboye, Henk Neven, Camilla Tilling, and Tom Randle, with Ingo Metzmacher conducting the Netherlands Opera Chorus and Hague Philharmonic (Opus Arte DVD)

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