Sara Mingardo (contralto), Aldo Orvieto (piano) & Carlo Lazari (violin)
CD
$18.75
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Sara Mingardo is that rare bird, the true contralto, and has just won the prestigious Premio Abbiati 2010 as best Italian singer.
Here she interprets works by Respighi that date from 1869 and 1914, and as such are often underestimated by critics and audiences, as pieces that anticipate Respighi’s successful creative period. The first nine pieces are very short, with lyrics by Ada Negri and Carlo Zangarini. In addition, ‘Pietà ti prenda, mio Dio’, is a transcription for voice, violin and piano from St Matthew Passion, a paraphrase of Psalm 51.
Sara Mingardo studied in her hometown Venice at the Academy Benedetto Marcello and first came to prominence by winning the Giulietta Simionato Prize at the 23rd Vienna Competition and the first prize at the Competition Toti dal Monte in 1987. Today Sara is an established figure in concert halls and opera houses in repertoire from Vivaldi to Britten. Her recent appearances at Covent Garden in Tamerlano, production by Graham Vick, marked her debut with The Royal Opera. She has already performed in the Royal Albert and Wigmore Halls and has established a relationship with the London Symphony Orchestra, appearing on their recordings of Messiah, Beethoven Mass in C, The Trojans and Beatrice & Benedict.
“Sara Mingardo is a shining exception, and the Venetian demonstrates with every performance the contralto beauties that the musical world is missing. Her voice is velvety smooth and beguilingly sensual, and she has a technique capable of tackling the most florid Baroque arias with grace.” The Times
Awards Issue 2010
“In these songs we get the full measure of [Mingardo's fluency and upper reaches] and also the dramatic quality inherent in voices of such depth when guided, as this is, by a strongly emotional imagination.”
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