Sandrine Piau - Mozart: Desperate Heroines (2015)

When Naïve offered me the chance to record a Mozart recital in 2001, it was something I hadn't even dared to dream of, because he seemed to me to be the composer most emblematic of every kind of perfection. I made the disc with a feeling almost of transgression and a tremendous fear of not being worthy of him. Now, thirteen years later, I come back to Mozart with the experience of the roles I've tackled on stage in the meantime.
Donna Anna is probably the character I most wanted to include, not only because I've sung her in the theatre but also because the part is traditionally given to heavier voices than mine. Like any so-called 'Baroque' singer, I'm suspicious of traditions, and I like the idea that behind her cries of suffering she has still retained a redemptive gentleness, which one can sense in 'Non mi dir'. The arias I've chosen are often tormented. I suppose this is a disc of maturity, which both reflects my trajectory over these past few years and catches me at a specific moment in my life, like a snapshot. -- Sandrine Piau