Gramophone highlights – March 2009
Gramophone’sMarch 2009 Issue Asks: Who Is Today’s Prima Donna – Anna Netrebko or Angela Gheorghiu
The March 2009 issue of Gramophonefeatures two beautiful and enormously talented sopranos on its cover: Anna Netrebko and Angela Gheorghiu. The question posed by the magazine’s cover story is simple: which of these two “dueling divas” is today’s true Prima Donna? As James Inverne explains in his monthly editorial, he “grew up with tales of singers pitted against each other by possessive record companies … [So,] as this month sees major Italian opera sets from each, it seemed as good a moment as any to assess their relative merits.” Mike Ashman charts the history of the diva wars in a four-page article while critics John Allison and Anne Midgette make the case for Gheorghiu and Netrebko respectively. Gramophone also reviews both Netrebko’s new recording of Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi (DG) and Gheorghiu’s new recording of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (EMI Classics).
Other highlights for Gramophone’s March 2009 issue:
- The magazine’s monthly Diary page is from conductor Antonio Pappano, who writes about, among other things, the centenary season of his Rome-based Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra.
- In his monthly Lend an Ear column, Philip Kennicott considers the continuing controversy caused by the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s reassignment of long-time classical music critic Don Rosenberg.
- The Pacifica Quartet’s cellist Brandon Vamos writes for Encounters about the group’s visit to an American juvenile detention center
- For the Gramophone Collection, Andrew Farach-Colton selects a top choice from among the recordings – many of them excellent – of Britten’s Les illuminations.
- And, only in the North American edition, writer and long-time radio listener Laurence Vittes surveys the surprisingly vibrant scene for classical music radio on the Web
Gramophone’s complete list of monthly “Editor’s Choice” recordings, thousands of archived reviews, breaking news, and much more can be found at the magazine’s web site: http://www.gramophone.co.uk/
– February 18, 2009