Mozart: Ecco il punto...Non più di fiori vaghe catene (from La clemenza di Tito) (Vitellia's Scene)

“It's playful, as well as an ideal vehicle for her glorious mezzo voice in which the most fiendish coloratura ornaments and trills sound effortless.” The Observer, 30th January 2011

“I can find nothing but praise...This recording gives enormous pleasure in rare as well as familiar repertoire...the mezzo invariably finding the right colour for each portrayal...Perhaps the best thing about this recital is that everything DiDonato sings sounds spontaneous, as if the character her- or himself were actually experiencing it for the first time.” International Record Review, March 2011

“she is steadily terrific: technically secure, nimble and clean in her flourishes and roulades, always alert to dramatic nuance. Nor do we lack variety. First, a swaggering, tipsy aria for Cherubino from the luxuriously coloured Chérubin (Massenet again). Then we jump to Mozart’s Susanna, intimate and tender in The Marriage of Figaro. So it goes: jolting, fascinating, entertaining.” The Times, 11th February 2011 ****

“[This collection] draws together paired arias of male and female roles from the same story...the youthful Siebel's declaration of love for Marguerite, from Gounod's Faust, receives an anachronistic response from Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust. Clever stuff.” The Independent, 11th February 2011 ***

“DiDonato’s is a five-star voice, perhaps the finest lyric mezzo before the public today...Ono’s Lyons orchestra and chorus give her voice luxury support, and her growing army of fans won’t be disappointed.” Sunday Times, 20th February 2011 ****

“[DiDonato] underlines what has been increasingly obvious from her stage appearances – she is a consummate professional” Financial Times, 11th February 2011 ****

“DiDonato's tone and phrasing catch a genuine male authority in the first entry of Bellini's Capuleti Romeo...Cendrillon and the (to Anglophones) rare Ariane are utter, and quite dark, delights. Elsewhere the Mozart is enjoyed and well negotiated - the lower colouring makes Susanna sound mature and knowing.” Gramophone Magazine, April 2011

“Proof of DiDonato's consummate musicianship is everywhere here...For sheer beauty of tone, legato that defies gravity and singing that restores your faith in human nature, listen last of all to what Joyce DiDonato does with Berlioz's 'D'amour l'ardente flamme'. Diva or Divo, this is the real thing.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2011 *****

“Listening to DiDonato depict both [Cherubino and Susanna]...brings home just how deeply this singer can inhabit character...The American mezzo delivers this ambitious, imaginative programme with intelligence, musicality, vocal brilliance and immense charm. There's some lovely playing from the Lyon Opera Orchestra too.” Classic FM Magazine, May 2011 *****

“Diana Damrau's intelligently planned and superbly executed recital… I can’t remember when I last enjoyed a Mozart recital of this kind so much.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2008 *****

“…Jérémie Rhorer draws tangy, rhythmically lively playing from his period band. "Taste", "fire", "flexibility", "sweetness", "grace of execution" - these were the qualities especially prized in singers of Mozart's day. On this showing Damrau, like Lucia Popp before her, has them all.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2009

“the most versatile, committed and technically assured lyric-dramatic soprano of the 20th century’s final quarter.” Gramophone Magazine

“Mozart wrote some of his most appealing music for the mezzo-soprano voice with the roles of Cherubino and Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Dorabella in Così fan tutte and Zerlina in DonGiovanni each boasting at least one memorable aria. Alongside these this disc includes a handful of concert arias including Ch'io mi scordi di te? which was written for the farewell performance of the great mezzo Nancy Storace with Mozart playing the concertante piano role. Here with as innate an interpreter of Mozart's piano writing as András Schiff and a voice so remarkably selfassured as Cecilia Bartoli's the electricity of that first, historic performance seems almost to be recreated. And, here as elsewhere, György Fischer directs the splendid Vienna Chamber Orchestra with disarming sensitivity while the recording is wonderfully warm and vibrant.
Cecilia Bartoli boasts a voice of extraordinary charm and unassuming virtuosity: her vocal characterisations would be the envy of the finest actresses and her intuitive singing is in itself a sheer delight. But she also brings to these arias a conviction and understanding of the subtleties of the language which only a native Italian could. Listen to the subtle nuances of 'Voi che sapete', the depth of understanding behind Dorabella's seemingly frivolous 'E'amore un ladroncello'; these aren't mere performances, but interpretations which cut to the very soul of the music. No Mozart lover should be without this CD.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010