| Puccini=Passion - Review Excerpts |
 Music and Vision (UK) (14 January 2008) "we can savour Cheryl Barker's true verismo art... there's more than sufficient within the Passion selection to recommend unstintingly." Barker, Bonynge and the delicate art of Recording Puccini (2004) "Bonynge has worked in the world's major recording venues, for companies with huge resources and big budgets. 'Oh, but let me tell you this is a much better team than I often work for ... Certainly I've had the best for a long time, but I would say this is the very finest recording. I enjoyed it very much.'" MusicWeb International (March 2004) - CD OF THE MONTH "[Barker] is known as a highly skilled and committed singer who gives her all on the stage ... her tone, support of the voice and vocal characterisation is a joy ... Barker’s interpretations make as satisfying a disc of this demanding repertoire as I have heard in a long time." Music Forum (February 2004) "... this recording is a welcome collation of Puccini arias and songs ... This is music for soprano which ranges from the lyric Lauretta and Musetta to the spinto Butterfly and Tosca. Barker's voice is able to encompass such a range ... There are considerable pleasures to be had from this disc ... As in the final words of the song 'Sole e amore', here is the signature of G. Puccini." Sydney Morning Herald (14 January 2004) "It's impossible to be too romantic' Barker said ... '[Puccini's] music is romantic, dramatic and as a performer it's fantastic music to sing ... I love all of that passion and drama.' Barker ... has come to be known as an expert in the Puccini repertoire ... 'I respond very much to Puccini's heroines who are always real women.' Barker worked with renowned opera conductor Richard Bonynge ... to record the album. 'I enjoy recording because I like the fact you can do it until you get it absolutely right and the sound quality on these Melba Recordings is so wonderful." Herald Sun Weekend Magazine (3 January 2004) "Barker's own supple soprano is a world-beater ... Now, Barker fans can savour her electrifying voice ... Puccini: Passion unites the singer with conductor Richard Bonynge and Orchestra Victoria for 19 exquisite arias and songs, all of them penned by one Italian genius." The Australian (3 January 2003) "[Richard Bonynge] brings a sensitive hand and undisputed sense of the theatre ... he has a superb collaborator ... Barker doesn't just sing the notes but lives the drama. Her soprano has warmth and texture and she always makes a generous sound, but even better is the intelligent phrasing ... In an artform that likes nothing better than a dead dame, Barker invests these doomed women with dignity and humanity." |