Puccini = Passion - The Richard Bonynge Edition

"[Barker] is known as a highly skilled and committed singer who gives her all on the stage ... her tone, support of the voice and vocal characterisation is a joy ... Barker's interpretations make as satisfying a disc of this demanding repertoire as I have heard in a long time."
MusicWeb International (March 2004) - CD OF THE MONTH

"It's impossible to be too romantic' Barker said ... '[Puccini's] music is romantic, dramatic and as a performer it's fantastic music to sing ... I love all of that passion and drama.' Barker ... has come to be known as an expert in the Puccini repertoire ... 'I respond very much to Puccini's heroines who are always real women.' Barker worked with renowned opera conductor Richard Bonynge ... to record the album. 'I enjoy recording because I like the fact you can do it until you get it absolutely right and the sound quality on these Melba Recordings is so wonderful."
Sydney Morning Herald (14 January 2004)

"Here [Richard Bonynge] is now working for the first time with ... admired Australian soprano [Cheryl Barker]. Surprising though it may sound, Bonynge has conducted comparatively little Puccini ... This may account for the freshness of approach he brings to the extracts on this disc.

Bonynge is a conductor who brings a strong whiff of the theatre to his work in the recording studio, insisting on long takes, never consenting to the stitching together of short sections into a bloodless patchwork ... A record, he believes - and this is the third in the Richard Bonynge Edition for Melba Recordings ... should achieve the same level of dramatic intensity as a theatrical performance.

Puccini famously liked to write about "little women", but he gave them "big" music, which is one thing that makes Cheryl Barker so ideal an interpreter of his soprano roles ... her lyric soprano, with an indefinably sweet vibrancy built in to the tone, adds immeasurably to her appeal. With that vibrancy comes a sense of vulnerability, which helps her bring the characters alive in both vocal and dramatic terms ... This most welcome disc allows her to present an overview of Puccini's women from the very beginning."
Rodney Milnes