Le Delizie Dell'amor / Andrea Rost, Mackerras

Rost comes with good credentials; she has already won her spurs at the Vienna State Opera, La Scala and Covent Garden as, variously, Lucia, Gilda and Violetta, all represented on this disc. She sings here with a consistent sense of line, considered phrasing, and musicality – perhaps under Mackerras’s influence, she opts for both verses of Violetta’s arias. I like the way in the second verse of “Ah! fors e lui” she takes the word “dolcissimo” in a suitably dolce tone and, in the recitative before “Addio del passato” goes up to the E at the end of the phrase “ogni speranza e morta” with proper delicacy and feeling. Her singing throughout is filled with that kind of intelligence. There’s also vocal agility of a youthfully engaging kind, not least in Norina’s credo... Mackerras provides just the sympathetic, experienced support a young singer needs. The recording is true and well-balanced.

-- Gramophone [1/1998]