Stephanie Blythe, John Nelson, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris - Handel & Bach: Arias (2001)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 319 Mb | Total time: 71:45 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Virgin Classics | 7243 5 45475 2 2 | Recorded: 2000
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 319 Mb | Total time: 71:45 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Virgin Classics | 7243 5 45475 2 2 | Recorded: 2000
How do you characterize a voice like this? The "official" description is "contralto", but no way is Richard Tucker Award-winner Stephanie Blythe a contralto in any conventional sense. This is a voice so versatile that in her opening "Ombra mai fu" (and in many other places) you'd swear that you were listening to one of today's new breed of countertenors–specifically David Daniels, who coincidentally records for the same label and appears on this program in a duet from Handel's Giulio Cesare. (In fact, their voices are so perfectly matched that when they sing together it's nearly impossible to tell them apart.)