Elina Garanca - Mozart: Opera & Concert Arias (2005)

Mozart: Opera & Concert Arias is the first recital disc made for Virgin Classics by young Latvian mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca. She is partnered in an interesting program of 10 Mozart arias by the Camerata Salzburg under Louis Langrée encompassing pieces drawn from La finta giardinera, La Clemenza di Tito, and Cosí fan tutte, the last-named being a property that Garanca is readily identified with on the concert circuit in Europe. Despite the title of the disc, there is only one true concert aria here, Misero me!...Misero pargoletto, K. 77, as the rest are insertion arias intended for other composers' operas. These are not recorded with frequency, however, and Garanca's producer is to be congratulated for picking such selections over more obvious, and popular, operatic arias for mezzo in Mozart.

Garanca has beautiful, clear sky-blue eyes, a dark voice that is not particularly powerful, a clearly focused tone, and a terrific sense of pitch. While the foregoing may be counted as Garanca's assets, among her liabilities is a lack of emotional emphasis and a tendency to slightly lag behind the beat, not in a jazzy way but more in an "I'm not quite ready to sing here" way. She sounds more than a bit like her fellow citizen Inessa Galante, a rather backward compliment as Galante is nearly twice Garanca's age. The Camerata Salzburg does not put up its best showing here, and it seems that Louis Langrée did not permit the orchestra to provide much in the way of excitement in the accompaniment, lest it distract from the star of the show. Even in "Va pure ad altri" from La finta giardinera where Mozart is displaying his stormy, minor-key style, the band plays the sforzandi in the score as a series of "lurches" rather than as swells. Virgin Classics' recording is quiet, distant, and unfocused, and even as the Camerata Salzburg holds back to accommodate Garanca, she still is often found buried somewhere in the middle of the texture.

Not long before Mozart: Opera & Concert Arias was issued, Garanca participated in Europa Galante's recording of Vivaldi's opera Bajazet in the plum role of Andronico, providing her with plenty of airtime. Though she isn't the best thing about that particular Virgin Classics release, Bajazet is a much better recording than this one. Comparatively, something seems not to have clicked in the process of making Mozart: Opera & Concert Arias, neither in engineering, interpretation, or performance. Better luck next time!