Kiri Te Kanawa: Italian Opera Arias. London...

Kiri Te Kanawa: Italian Opera Arias. London Symphony, Myung-Whun Chung, conducting. EMI 7 54062 2 (compact disc). After almost 20 years of international prominence, Te Kanawa’s lyric soprano retains its wonted beauty and the consistency of heavy cream. Technically, she has few problems, but she tends to respect dynamic markings according to whim. While she is capable of lovely soft singing, she chooses to blast out Liu’s B-flat at the end of “Signore ascolta.” The same goes for the endings of the “Suor Angelica,” “Adriana Lecouvreur” and “Traviata” arias. She does make a stab at the trills in the “Pagliacci” and “Mefistofele” excerpts. However, instead of expressivity and character delineation, we hear one-dimensional vocalizing. We are bored because Te Kanawa sounds bored. This CD is scarcely pressed for time, so why no cabaletta for “Tacea la notte,” or the reading of the letter for “Addio del passato”? Chung dutifully goes along with what the Dame wants.