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Anima Rara

Ermonela Jaho (soprano), Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, Andrea Battistoni

Anima Rara

Awards:

She has a slender tone, definitely more lyric than spinto, and is often so deeply invested in her role that it’s not always a very ‘pretty’ sound. Yet it’s exactly these qualities that are her...

Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2020

More reviews

Anima Rara

Ermonela Jaho (soprano), Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, Andrea Battistoni

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Awards:

She has a slender tone, definitely more lyric than spinto, and is often so deeply invested in her role that it’s not always a very ‘pretty’ sound. Yet it’s exactly these qualities that are her...

Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2020

More reviews

About

Anima Rara, the debut recital album from Ermonela Jaho, explores music championed by Rosina Storchio, one of the most charismatic lyric sopranos of the verismo era. Jaho sings arias from operas including Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Leoncavallo’s La bohème, Giordano’s Siberia, Mascagni’s Lodoletta and Verdi’s La traviata, accompanied by the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana led by young Italian conductor Andrea Battistoni. Known for performances of searing intensity and emotional truth, Jaho has been described as ‘the world’s most acclaimed soprano’ (The Economist) and ‘one of the great verismo interpreters’ (The Guardian).

  • Release date: 25th Sep 2020
  • Label: Opera Rara
  • Catalogue number: 9293802532
  • Length: 70 minutes
  • Genre:

Contents and tracklist

Puccini: Un bel di vedremo (from Madama Butterfly)
Work length4:32
Leoncavallo: Musette svaria sulla bocca viva (from La Bohème)
Work length2:01
Mascagni: Un dì ero piccina (from Iris)
Work length3:43
Massenet: Ces gens que je connais...Pendant un an je fus ta femme (from Sapho)
Work length3:26
Boito: L'altra notte in fondo al mare (from Mefistofele)
Work length7:01
Mascagni: Ah, il suo nome… Flammen perdonami (from Lodoletta)
Work length12:08
Massenet: Allons! Il le faut pour lui-même!... Adieu, notre petite table (from Manon)
Work length4:19
Giordano, U: Nel so amore from Siberia
Work length2:49
Verdi: Teneste la promessa...Addio, del passato (from La Traviata)
Work length8:18
Mascagni: Son pochi fiori (from L'Amico Fritz)
Work length3:11
Catalani: Ebben? Ne andrò lontana (from La Wally)
Work length4:15
Leoncavallo: Mimi Pinson la biondinetta (from La Bohème)
Work length2:13
Massenet: Prelude…Demain je partirai (from Sapho)
Work length9:19
Puccini: Con onor muore (from Madama Butterfly)
Work length2:47

Spotlight on this release

Awards and reviews

  • Presto Recording of the Week
    25th September 2020
  • BBC Music Magazine
    November 2020
    Opera Choice
  • Gramophone Magazine
    Awards Issue 2020
    Editor's Choice
  • Presto Recordings of the Year
    Winner 2020
  • The Times Records of the Year
    2020
  • Gramophone Awards
    2021
    Shortlisted - Voice & Ensemble

Awards Issue 2020

She has a slender tone, definitely more lyric than spinto, and is often so deeply invested in her role that it’s not always a very ‘pretty’ sound. Yet it’s exactly these qualities that are her strengths here…Jaho invests each and every role with a sense of drama that translates across the speakers, even though there are no visuals.

November 2020

Her extraordinary ability to arouse acute emotion through impassioned utterance of tone and word, now internationally attested, is evident throughout the disc…None of the 11 Storchio roles essayed here lacks the personal touches that distinguish the genuinely creative artist from the journeyman or -woman. Stamina for the climaxes is never wanting. Each track offers moments of beauty, in soft high phrases above all.

25th September 2020

It all suits Jaho down to a T. As contemporary reviews, letters and the very few existing recordings of Storchio illustrate, there seems to be an almost uncanny affinity between the two singers in terms of both voice and artistic temperament. Storchio was very far removed from the powerhouse sopranos who’ve taken on some of these roles to great effect since the end of her short but astonishing career, and it’s a real eye-opener to hear this music sung with such delicacy, freshness and introversion.
Katherine Cooper

11th October 2020

The Albanian soprano’s voice may not be sumptuous, but her keen alliance of music and text is compelling. One would love to hear her as any of these verismo heroines, but the scene from Lodoletta stands out, idiomatically accompanied by Battistoni and the orchestra.

2nd October 2020

Past appearances at the Royal Opera House and on the Opera Rara label may have made us more accustomed to her blazing intensity, fruity but well-managed vibrato and rounded, copper-coloured tone colour. Yet the Jaho effect continues to thrill and startle to a singular degree.
5 out of 5 stars
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