Hélène and Nuit persane

14/08/2008
Howard Smith
Music and Vision (UK)

Lovingly accomplished

Within the last few years Australia's Melba Recordings has set unparalleled, ground-breaking standards in the production, presentation, packaging and design of SACD recordings.

And, as if that were not enough, the land of dingos, didjeridus and uranium deposits achieves performance standards every bit the equal of their Northern Hemisphere counterparts...

Maria Vandamme, executive director of Melbourne's Melba Foundation, disinterred the score of Saint-Saëns' Hélène in the archives of the Monte Carlo Opera, while searching for documentary material on Dame Nellie Melba...

Now, finally, we have reason to be thankful that Melba Recordings and musicians of Australia's most urbanized state have brought it to our attention in a performance of avowed commitment...

Title role soprano, Rosamund Illing, manages the prodigious dramatic compass with stirring magisterial power, offset by melting sotto voce beauty; a breathtaking re-acquaintance with this fine poème lyrique...

If space allowed and commonsense decreed one could track through these vocal and orchestral performances and time after time single out phrases expertly and lovingly accomplished...

Melba's booklet-case is one of a kind; deluxe in appearance, exhaustive in its informed content; top of its class...

There's no denying Melba Records' team; narrator Amanda Mouellic, tenor Steve Davislim and alto Zan McKendree-Wright acquit themselves persuasively throughout the cycle...