Opera 2010
3/5
The lure of opera is in an artist's ability to use his or her voice as a musical instrument as much as it is about the lyrics.
With most of this album in Italian, French, Spanish and German, the majority of listeners are not going to understand what the
songs are about, but it is difficult not to marvel at what skilled human beings are actually capable of extracting from a strong pair of lungs and well-trained vocal chords.
Those in the know will recognise numbers from opera by the likes of Puccini, Rossini, Vivali, Mozart and Handel. While separating these aria from their wider contexts does take away from their actual meaning, it does little to detract from the talents of the performers, ranging from past masters to newcomers.
