Joyce DiDonato and Julius Drake: "A Journey Through Venice"

Songs and arias by Fauré, Hahn, Handel, Head and Rossini. Texts and translations. Wigmore Hall Live WHLIVE0009

To call an American singer "well-schooled" can be a way of praising with faint damns, the implication being that vocal proficiency has taken the place of individuality of expression. That is not the case here. Mezzo Joyce DiDonato is definitely a well-schooled singer, able to tackle the wide-ranging program presented here, comfortable in its three-and-a-half languages, undaunted by even the most stringent technical demands. For all that, though, it's her distinctive timbre that most recommends her - sweetly lyrical, with a fine-grained legato and a touch of smokiness. In the vocalise that punctuates Reynaldo Hahn's "La barcheta," the sheer sound is utterly bewitching. Not every grouping is a complete success in this Venetian-themed recital, recorded earlier this year at London's Wigmore Hall. But DiDonato shows an admirable ability to shift her interpretive demeanor to answer the very different demands of each.

With its breathless young heroine, Rossini's familiar La Regata Veneziano, the disc's opening set, can easily descend into audience-pleasing cutesiness. But even as her singing evokes youthful ardor, DiDonato maintains her backbone as a performer; she knows the difference between depicting an adorable character and begging to be adored. Three "Songs of Venice" by twentieth-century British composer Michael Head follow. These are an odd choice: even Stephen Pettitt's liner notes admit Head's failure to "explore the deepest or sublest emotions." Here, DiDonato and her accompanist, Julius Drake, are unable to unearth musical interest where none is to be found.

Fauré's Cinq Mélodies de Venise offer more substantial fare, but DiDonato's conscientious readings here just miss enchantment. The climactic "L'extase" stays stubbornly earthbound, partly because the mezzo and her accompanist don't employ ample enough rubato, imposing an unwelcome measure of rhythmic regularity. But Hahn's Venezia, the final grouping in the "printed program," proves a thoroughgoing delight. In this set of six songs in Venetian dialect, Hahn conjures a world of sensuality and high spirits, and DiDonato responds with unbuttoned, unfailingly communicative renditions.

DiDonato abandons the Venetian theme in her two encores. The first is a noble reading of Sesto's "Cara speme" from Giulio Cesare, sung simply and quietly but with completely supported tone, its long line firmly drawn from beginning to end. The disc's closer is DiDonato's calling-card number, the rondo-finale from La Cenerentola - an infectious reading, striking the essential Rossinian balance between warmth and brilliance.