Esteemed Austrian label Preiser Records, primarily known for its trade in the dead, have opted for some limited projects involving the quick. So far, the most memorable of these has been La Pastorella, featuring Japanese soprano
Akiko Nakajima. The follow up, Female Portraits, was underway already even as La Pastorella made its bow, but it has taken awhile for it to make it across the big pond. Nevertheless, it was well worth the wait, and daresay it appears that the awkwardly titled Female Portraits is a little better album than La Pastorella was. Here
Nakajima sings to the accompaniment of the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Niels Muus and is featured in nineteenth century opera, mostly in Italian and largely the same kind of opera
Maria Callas was renowned for singing -- Il Pirata, La Sonnambula, La Traviata, and Gianni Schicchi. Female Portraits also contains three German-language arias from the never-before-recorded opera Der Heimkehr des Verbannten (roughly, The Homecoming of the Exile) by Otto Nicolai.
Muus' simple strategy here is to provide support for
Nakajima and, at the same time, stay the hell out of her way, and this works.
Nakajima's voice is very beautiful, lighter than
Callas' but possessing the same qualities of expression;
Nakajima is no dummy who has a great voice but no comprehension of what the texts mean. She does imbue her singing with characterization to a strong degree, which is particularly thrilling in the excerpts from Il Pirata. Rather than a single aria or two from a given opera, most of the works excepted here are heard in short sets of numbers, and the excerpt from La Traviata even contains the Act III Prelude so that the segment seems a little less of a "bleeding chunk" than it is. Overall this is a highly desirable soprano recital, and if you like
Callas compilations such as La Divina, then you will be happy to make room for Female Portraits on your shelf.