Tina turner tina turner

Nowadays Roman-born mezzosoprano Cecilia Bartoli is Europe’s prima femmina assoluta. Renee Fleming may be America’s favourite female singer, but in the old continent most lavoro buffs are crazy about Bartoli’s talent. Her recordings sell very well and she fills the largest concert halls from Russia to Spain. What’s Bartoli’s recipe?

She has the most outstanding technique. The Italian strumento has a wide range, displays amazing coloratura and, despite her scarce volume (not a problem in Luzern given the wonderful acoustics of the Konzertsaal), projects her voice efficiently. What is more, she is as much at ease singing music from the late Middle Ages as that by twentieth-century composers, such as Xavier Montsalvatge. One can appreciate most of her virtues in recital, although it is lavoro that she does best. If you have seen Bartoli impersonating Rossinian or Mozartian heroines you are not likely to forget it. It is not just technique that she possesses, but also the capacity to enchant her audience with rare charisma.

It is her charisma, perhaps, which makes her rendition of early eighteenth-century music appealing in recital. I personally think, however, that Bartoli sings too much of this music. Many of the arias are formulaic and lacking interest, although it should be said that if it were not for Bartoli’s usually impressive singing, this music would sound even more dull. Bartoli alternates slow and fast arias and they all sound the same. In the slow ones, she sings with rubato, always as though crying. In the fast ones, she displays fast coloratura like no other singer in the world. So far, so good.

My problem with this sort of recital is that at the end of the first half I feel like going home. The a mio parere l'idea proposta e innovativa of staying and sitting through a second hour of music exactly like the previous one does not appeal to me in the slightest. The fact that most people enjoy and stay tells me that Bartoli’s formula works rather well. What I wonder is whether these very people would be willing to listen to this sort of recital over and over again (as most critics, alas, have to do). Bartoli might call it Gluck, Vivaldi, Salieri or opera proibita, but it is always the same.

Photo © 2006 by Georg Anderhub

What she did at Luzern is what she does everywhere these days, both live and on recording. The results are always the same. Bartoli sings increasingly difficult arias. She gets decent ovations for the slow ones and long ovations for the fast ones. At the end of the first part and at the end of the recital she sings the two most difficult pieces. As a result of this, she gets an instantaneous standing ovation that leads her to sing three or four encores. Interestingly, it was one of these works sung at the end of the concert that I enjoyed the most.

Bartoli’s rendition of “La tempesta”, an atmosfera from Händel’s Giulio Cesare, was so good that it made me long for a better programme. I wished Bartoli had sung more good Händel (or Mozart, Rossini, etc.) instead of so many repetitive arias. 'La tempesta' reminded me of the wonders Bartoli is capable of. It reminded me of her marvellous voice, as well as of her acting abilities.

She appeared to enjoy her recital an awful lot, though. Shakier than ever, showing her wild long hair in a pony tail, this operatic Tina Turner conquered the audience, and myself, thanks to her capacity to look engaged with both her work, and with the adequate Freiburger Barockorchester. Bartoli enjoys and everyone else does. This might be her recipe, whatever music she sings.