Search - Galina Gorchakova :: Italian Opera Arias

Raw vocal beauty

M. Tietjen | Syracuse, NY, USA | 10/22/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Galina Gorchakova has always been a controversial singer. People either love her raw, untamed sound or hate it. I have always been in the former category and I still am, despite a few technical problems which never seem to go away. Some of her high notes on this album are so flat and weak that I'm surprised they didn't do another take. I've heard her do Leonora's aria better on two other recordings. And she's not exactly a master of subtlety, particularly in her high register. But the beauty of her enormous voice and the way she completely throws herself into her characters, in my opinion, more than makes up for technical flaws. Verismo doesn't have to be sung perfectly anyway. I much prefer the raw emotion of this disc to the bland interpretations in Jane Eaglen's new album of much the same repertoire. In particular, the three death scenes (Butterfly, Manon, and Liu) are very powerful."