WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Opera & Concert Arias

English Chamber Orchestra (Mozart)
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (Schubert)
conducted by Edo de Waart

Elly Ameling, Sopran
Dalton Baldwin, piano

PTC 5186 133

DSD remastered

AMELING,S ARIAS

On this third and last of three SACDs , which the Pentatone label has devoted to Elly Ameling in its RQR series, the great Dutch soprano exclusively interprets arias by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Schubert. After studying with Jacoba Dresden-Dhont and Sem Dresden, among others, and winning the voice competitions in ´s Hertogenbosch and Geneva, the singer from Rotterdam continued her studies in Paris with Pierre Bernac. She then concentrated wholly on the concert and lied repertoire (an exception to which was her Ilia in Mozart’s Idomeneo 1973/74 in Amsterdam), in which she has since enjoyed major successes world-wide. Thanks to the “warm timbre of her voice, which she uses like an instrument”, Ameling has received great acclaim for her numerous recordings with richly varied repertoire.
Apart from well-known arias from Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte, Elly Ameling also sings four concert arias by Mozart, who wrote works for solo voice during almost his entire life as a composer – most of which for soprano, by the way. In contrast to opera or string quartet, the genre of the concert aria is not detached, homogeneous, or independent: rather, these works should be considered a heterogeneous collection of pieces composed by Mozart for the most diverse reasons. He wrote them as purely individual compositions for certain occasions, but also frequently as interludes for his own operas, or for those of other composers. One can hear that many of the pieces were written with the outstanding vocal capacities of certain individual singers in mind.
The Aria K. 369 “Misera, dove son! – Ah, non son’io che parlo” dates from 1781, as does its sister work K. 368. Both works can be considered close musical “neighbours” of his opera Idomeneo. In the major recitative, Fulvia abandons herself to her pain about the (supposed) death of her beloved Ezio. In the two-part Aria, the despair she is going through is almost tangible.
The Aria K. 505 (Vienna, 1786) contains a brilliant part for solo concertante piano, which Mozart probably wrote for himself. The Aria was composed especially for the English soprano Nancy Storace (the first Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro). Here, the piano – which is subtly embedded in the orchestral part – and the soloist compete with one another as if they were concertante instruments in a concerto grosso.
Mozart’s K. 582 and K. 583 are typical examples of insert arias. He wrote them in Vienna a few years before his death for the opera buffa Il burbero di buon cuore by Martín y Soler.
In both of Lucilla’s scenes, “solemnity and reflective merriment are intertwined” (Kunze).
Not only is Elly Ameling spectacular in these arias, which are not on the whole that well known, but also in some of the most beautiful vocal gems from Mozart’s operas. These include Susanna’s “rose” aria and both of Cherubino’s arias from Le nozze di Figaro, the gentle solo arias written for Zerlina in Don Giovanni, and Fiordiligi’s “rock” aria from Così fan tutte.
While Schubert was researching singspiel and opera, the maestro of the lied mainly encountered two icons of the operatic genre: Gluck and Mozart. Gluck’s Iphigenie led to “the most assiduous study of all Gluck’s scores”. Mozart’s late operas were quite the “most wonderful example for opera composers”. Schubert’s early singspiels include Claudine von Villa Bella D. 239 (begun in 1815), based on Goethe’s work, and Die Bürgschaft D. 435 (begun in 1816), both of which were handed down to posterity incomplete. Schubert wrote these operas were basically as composition exercises and they were never performed during his lifetime. Lucinde and Claudine’s short, catchy ariettas are typical of the established singspiel.
Johann Michael Vogl, the congenial singer who was later to interpret many of Schubert’s lieder, gave the composer his first opera commission in 1818: Die Zwillingsbrüder
D. 647, a “farce with song” based on the work by Georg von Hofmann, which had its first performance in Vienna on June 14, 1820. In his opera Alfonso und Estrella based on a text by Schober, Schubert ventures into “grand opera”. However, as was Die Zwillingsbrüder, Die Verschworenen is also more a comical opera. Helene’s chromatically rich Romanza with clarinet accompaniment presents itself in true singspiel fashion.

“Amelings interpretations surpass superlatives….This is Ameling in 1972 and 1975 at her absolute peak….In the Philips stereo releases Ameling sings equally good, but only in the PentaTone edition you can hear what producers Wilhelm Hellweg and Vittorio Negri exactly had in mind when making these recordings.”
---Hein van Eekert, Luister (Juli/August 2004)

“Yet another winner from PentaTone! This SA-CD is a delight from start to finish. Elly Ameling’s lovely voice is captured to perfection in each of these Mozart and Schubert arias recorded in London (1972) and Rotterdam (1975) respectively.
The mellow playing of the English Chamber Orchestra in the Mozart perfectly complements the purity of Ameling’s singing, and makes one appreciate the warmth of the instrumental sound, so different from some of the more abrasive ‘original instrument’ productions we are used to nowadays.
The Schubert items, which take up a quarter of the disc, are not as familiar, but equally enjoyable. Here the Rotterdam PO provides stylish accompaniments (listen to the mellifluous woodwind in the aria from Der Zwillingsbrüder) and Edo de Waart’s conducting throughout is all one could wish for.
More like this please PentaTone!
---SA-CD info.com

“Here are three more winners from PentaTone. Th Elly Ameling SA-CDs are welcome additions to the surround catalogue. The Dutch soprano’s artistry is consummate and when these recordings were made, 1972-1975, she was in her prime.”
---Robert Benson,classicalcdreview.com

“ ..a real charmer…, recorded when Ameling had a glorious early maturity as a vocal artist.”
---Phil Muse, Atlanta Audio Society

“ Elly Ameling is alive and kicking thanks to Super Audio CD, but even with a standard CD-player you hear Quality improvement. Wonderful transparent and spacious sound.”
---Oswin Schneeweisz, HP/De Tijd

“ The PentaTone label, specialized in SA-CDs offers us three new jewels with one name: Elly Ameling.”
---Hugo de Groot, Klassieke Zaken