Tancredi, which was based on Tasso’s epic poem Gerusalemme Liberata and was first heard in 1813, is most widely remembered for its overture, but this excellent Naxos set makes a strong case for the piece. It completely displaces the previous versions from Sony and RCA, and the eminent Rossini scholar and conductor, Alberto Zedda, proves a far more resilient, generally brisker and lighter Rossini interpreter than his predecessors. Sumi Jo is superb as the heroine, Amenaide, in dazzlingly clear coloratura, as well as imaginative pointing of phrase, rhythm and words.

The Biblical story of Belshazzar’s hubristic arrogance set against the valour of the young warrrior-leader Cyrus provided the 20-year-old Rossini with a dramatic story with West-Eastern resonances which still speak to us today. For the title role of Cyrus, Rossini wrote what would be his longest-ever contralto role, to which the great Rossini singer Ewa Podles is both naturally attracted and ideally suited. She is partnered by two young American stars of Rossini singing, Jessica Pratt and Michael Spyres, and a conductor-scholar, Will Crutchfield, of immense experience and sympathy.

“Giulio Cesare” is one of Handel’s most fascinating and exquisite works. It was brought to Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu under the direction of Herbert Wernicke, who produced a new adaptation including fragments of other Handel operas such as “Rinaldo”, “Orlando” and “Tolomeo”. This freely-interpreted and updated version does not seek to set the opera in a contemporary context but rather to reveal hidden aspects of the work: its psychology, its history and politics. The orchestra is conducted by Michael Hofstetter and the title role is sung by the Italian-Spanish countertenor Flavio Oliver, who is one of the leading male sopranos in the world today.

Obsessive in gambling and in love, the soldier Hermann is the protagonist of Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame, based on a story by Pushkin. He is smitten with the aristocratic Lisa and fixated on learning the winning secret of ‘the three cards’ from her grandmother, the Countess, played by iconic contralto Ewa Podles. This opulent production from Barcelona’s Liceu captures St Petersburg in the era of Catherine the Great, while the house’s Music Director Michael Boden conducts a large and impressive cast.

The most striking feature of this disc is the casting of Ewa Podles as Orphée. A Polish contralto with a tessitura that comfortably spans three octaves, she has a voice that is resonant and rich in its low notes but rises easily to tackle coloratura – a combination which she uses to dazzling effect on ‘Amour viens rende à mon âme’, the last, show-stopping aria of Act I. But its remarkable versatility apart, Podles’s distinctive sound is something of a curiosity – dark, slightly guttural and peculiarly tubular. The comprimarios, Raphaëlle Farman as Eurydice and Marie-Noëlle de Callataÿ as Amour, produce a clean, attractive sound. Sung in French, this recording uses Berlioz’s 1859 revision.

Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice is an opera whose historical value is as great as its musical worth. It stands as a starting point for what is often referred to as the “Gluck reform” of Italian serious opera, and the first performance of Orfeo, which took place in Vienna on the 5th of October 1762, is considered to be one of the key moments in the history of music in the eighteenth century.

Ewa Podles is a rarity: a true contralto with thrilling high and low notes, not to mention everything in between. Unlike Horne, whose lower register occasionally sounds baritonal, Podles is feminine throughout her estimable range. This recording of 18th-century arias exploits every aspect of this wonderful artist, including firm, beautiful tone and awesome coloratura. All of the selections, from the familiar Purcell and Gluck to the less recognizable arias from Vivaldi, Handel, and Marcello, are sung with brio and/or firm legato. Excellent period accompaniment by Patrick Peire and the Collegium Instrumental de Bruges.

–William S. Levison

With Joyce DiDonato as Cinderella capturing all hearts – not just Prince Charming’s – Massenet’s enchanting, sophisticated retelling of the classic fairytale makes its debut at Covent Garden in a charming and witty production by Laurent Pelly.
The Cinderella story seen through the eyes of the belle époque, Massenet’s Cendrillon was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1899 and its gorgeous score embraces pathos, pastiche, broad humour, subtle eroticism and sheer magic.In Summer 2011, its debut at London's Royal Opera House was built around mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, who first took on the title role at the Santa Fe festival in 2006.

Lynne Dawson is the star of this show. In Act 2, where Ginevra finds herself inexplicably rejected and condemned by everyone, Dawson brings real depth of tone and feeling to her E minor lament, 'Il mio crudel martoro'; in the final act she shines in the desolate miniature 'Io ti bacio' and brings much fire to the outburst 'Sì, morro'. But she never transgresses the canons of Baroque style. Von Otter, too, has much marvellous music – the aria 'Scherza infida' is one of Handel's greatest expressions of grief – and she sings it beautifully, but she isn't really at one with his idiom and seems to lack a natural feeling for the amplitude of Handel's lines. Yet there's much to enjoy here too, the beauty of the actual sound, the immaculate control, the many telling and musicianly touches of phrasing.