Janet Baker (Yorkshire, 1933) made her opera debut in the Oxford University Opera Group in 1956 and appeared for the first time at Glyndebourne. Gaining much experience with the Handel Opera Society and English Opera Group she made her debut with the Royal Opera in 1966. She became a favourite artist there, Glyndebourne and with Scottish Opera. Her voice was noted for its dramatic intensity and with her vivid stage personality she was an outstanding singing actress. These qualities she was able to transfer to recordings through her utter conviction and intense projection of the words. Her musical range was enormous, from Lute Songs through Monteverdi and the Baroque right up to the works written especially for her by composers such as Britten and Walton. Although she made many remarkable recordings it is probably those made with Sir John Barbirolli, especially Elgar and Mahler, which feature on so many peoples choices for Desert Island Discs. (bron: EMI Classics)
'There can be no more golden a legend than Janet Baker singing English song; and this latest BBC Legend a live recital from the 1983 Cheltenham Festival is, as ever, an invaluable supplement to the artists studio and commercial recordings. Here are true classics such as Bakers performance of Vaughan Williamss Linden Lea, her Britten folksong arrangements and her Peter Warlock all superbly remastered and restored to all but live, real presence. At the heart of the recital comes some timely centenary Lennox Berkeley: his WH Auden settings, sung here in honour of the composers 80th birthday, and revealing once again that bright re-energising of the poetrys unique weight and measure. And then Finzis Let Us Garlands Bring. Scarcely has any composer since the first Elizabethans been more intimately attuned to Shakespeares sensibility; and Baker herself sings the settings with robust, red-blooded empathy. (Hilary Finch, www.classical-music.com).
"This is a fond, nostalgic television representation of the great English mezzo-soprano's last year on the operatic stage. It is more engrossing than a typical opera-star documentary simply because Miss Baker is more interesting than the typical opera star, but one suspects that viewers will have mixed reactions. In Britain, Miss Baker is revered as more than an important artist - she is a national institution. "Full Circle", very British indeed, is aimed at her myriad admirers, as a personal keepsake of sorts. We are taken on tour with Miss Baker, drive with her from Brighton to Glyndebourne, attend opera rehearsals with her, and witness snippets of performances at Carnegie Hall and Covent Garden. There's little singing, but there are some stirring scenes that should please the afficionado - a charged showdown with Rosalind Plowright from Donizetti's "Mary Stuart", a haunting Old English song, and a brisk but moving "Che Faro Senza Euridice" from Gluck's "Orfeo ed Euridice"." (Tim Page, New York Times)
Bevat o.a. ook: Sleep, Adam, sleep and take thy rest / Henry Purcell. Pretty ring time / Peter Warlock ... [et al.]
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