Very Unusual

Cecilia Bartoli is not at all like anyone else. For one thing she is musically fearless. She does not hesitate to mold anything to herself, and this number is a fabulous example. It's a cut from her La Sonnambula recording which I listen to quite a bit.

Has any singer ever appeared with the Vienna Philharmonic without a conductor besides her? Pavarotti and Netrebko may sit around listening to singers they admire for the source of their interpretations, a practice that is vastly superior to the mechanical correctness that is so popular today, but you may be sure that La Bartoli is consulting her own musical imagination.

This particular rendition is utterly astounding. The duets with Juan Diego Florez are gorgeous.

Maybe I'll go on a binge and review everything she's ever done that I haven't reviewed before. Maybe I'm ready.