Habanera / Elina Garanca

Elina Garanca's supple, seductive mezzo is aflame with the neon hues and rhythmic dash of Romany in excerpts from beguiling Gypsy roles in opera and operetta. Stand alone numbers add to the panache of Habanera.

With gorgeous pieces eliciting every gift Elina Garanca boasts as a musician, Habanera's instrumental accompaniments - whether RAI's full orchestra, small ensemble or guitar - add to the sultry atmosphere. Conductor Karel Mark Chichon contributes taut yet elastic leadership that enhances the charm and variety of Elina Garanca's selections.

On this album, the 'dialects' derived from Gypsy musical language include Bizet's Carmen, Chueca's Tango de la Ermenegilda, Bernstein's Candide, Lehar's Hör ich Zymbalklänge and unknown gems like Obradors' El vito (see the exceptional music video) making for a musically enlightening and delightful program.

Every generation has its "must see" Carmen. In 2010, the list of definitive gypsy seductresses - glittering with names like Baltsa, Bumbry, Calve, Farrar, and Stevens - is enriched by the addition of Elina Garanca. After her triumphant success as Carmen in Riga, London, and Munich, Elina Garanca, "the Carmen of our day" (News, Austria), has taken the NY Metropolitan Opera by storm in January 2010. This production was filmed live and the 2 DVD Set in 5.1 DTS surround sound will be released simultaneously.

The Wiener Zeitung said it all when it observed of Garanca's Carmen that "the role and the singer are perfectly matched".

"Smoochy, smoky, with lambent top notes" -The Times, 28th August 2010

"Garanca's voice has been described as "creamy", "silken" and "lustrous" (her chest register is superbly produced) but it also has a surprisingly rounded maturity. What sets her apart, however, is the unteachable ability to send shivers down the spine and make grown men salivate." Gramophone Magazine, October 2010

"Her voice impresses, though one notices that the sound has brightened of late, and that a newly found ease at the top has come... The shift allows her to interpolate a showy, but thrilling top B into Carmen's Seguidilla, and to tackle De Espana Vengo, the big soprano number from Luna's El Nino Judío, with abandoned ease." The Guardian, 9th September 2010 ***

"Garanca may be Lithuanian but her mezzo-soprano has Mediterranean sensuality and warmth." The Telegraph, 13th September 2010 ****

"Garanca gorgeous voice comes as a fantastic package: it caresses the ear with its velvety warmth, tingles the spine with its ringing bright overtones, and impresses the imagination with its well-supported evenness from top to bottom." Classic FM Magazine, November 2010 ***

Notes & Reviews:

Personnel: Elina Garanca (mezzo soprano).

Recording information: Auditorio RAI Arturo Toscanini, Turin, Italy (03/2010).

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Works Details

Barbieri, Francisco Asenjo : El barberillo de Lavapiés :: Paloma's Song. Como nací en la calle de la Paloma

Performer: Elina Garanca (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Karel Chichon
Notes: Composition written: 1874.
Running Time: 3 min. 1 sec.
Period Time: Romantic
Form: Opera/Operetta
Written: 1874

Bizet, Georges : Carmen, opera :: Act 1. Chanson and Duet. Près des remparts de Séville

Performers: Roberto Alagna (Tenor); Elina Garanca (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Karel Chichon
Running Time: 4 min. 41 sec.
Period Time: Romantic
Written: 1873-1874

Franz Lehár (1870 - 1948) : Zigeunerliebe :: Act 2. Song and Csárdás. Hör ich Zymbalkläng

Performers: Alessandro Milani (Violin); Elina Garanca (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Karel Chichon
Running Time: 4 min. 33 sec.
Period Time: Post Romantic
Form: Opera/Operetta
Written: 1909

Balfe, Michael : The Bohemian Girl :: Act 2. Aria (The Dream). I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls

Performer: Elina Garanca (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Karel Chichon
Running Time: 4 min. 54 sec.
Period Time: Romantic

Montsalvatge, Xavier : Cinco canciones negres :: no 4. Canción de cuna para dormir a un negrito

Performer: Elina Garanca (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Karel Chichon
Running Time: 2 min. 52 sec.
Period Time: Post Romantic

Falla, Manuel de : El amor brujo :: Canción del amor dolido

Performer: Elina Garanca (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Karel Chichon
Running Time: 1 min. 30 sec.
Period Time: Post Romantic
Form: Ballet
Written: 1915

Falla, Manuel de : Siete canciones populaires españoles :: no 5. Nana

Performers: Elina Garanca (Mezzo Soprano); Jose Del Rey (Guitar)
Conductor: Karel Chichon
Running Time: 1 min. 36 sec.
Period Time: Post Romantic
Form: Vocal
Written: 1914

Ravel, Maurice : Pièce en forme de Habañera

Performer: Elina Garanca (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Karel Chichon
Running Time: 3 min. 24 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1907

Ruperto Chapí y Lorenta (1851 - 1909) : El barquillero :: Romance. Cuando está tan hondo

Performer: Elina Garanca (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Karel Chichon
Notes: Composition written: Spain.
Running Time: 6 min. 7 sec.
Period Time: Post Romantic
Form: Opera/Operetta

Bernstein, Leonard : Candide :: Act 1. I am easily assimilated (Old Lady's Tango)

Performer: Elina Garanca (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Karel Chichon
Running Time: 4 min. sec.
Period Time: Modern

José Maria Gallardo del Rey : Canción del amor, for voice & chamber ensemble

Performers: Jose Del Rey (Guitar); Massimo Maori (Cello); Enrico Baroni (Clarinet); Cesare Maghenzani (Double Bass); Alberto Barletta (Flute); Geri Brown (Viola); Elina Garanca (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Karel Chichon
Running Time: 3 min. 45 sec.
Period Time: Contemporary

Falla, Manuel de : Siete canciones populaires españoles :: no 4. Jota

Performers: Jose Del Rey (Guitar); Elina Garanca (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Karel Chichon
Running Time: 2 min. 59 sec.
Period Time: Post Romantic
Form: Vocal
Written: 1914

Luna, Pablo : El niño judío :: Spanish Song. De España vengo, soy española!

Performer: Elina Garanca (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Karel Chichon
Notes: Composition written: Spain.
Running Time: 6 min. 24 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Form: Opera/Operetta

Bizet, Georges : Carmen, opera :: Act 2. Chanson. Les tringles des sistres tintaient

Performers: Cristina Pasaroiu (Voice); Giuseppina Bridelli (Voice); Elina Garanca (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Karel Chichon
Running Time: 4 min. 46 sec.
Period Time: Romantic
Written: 1873-1874

Obradors, Fernando J. : Canciones clásicas españolas :: El vito

Performer: Elina Garanca (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Karel Chichon
Notes: Composition written: 1920.
Running Time: 3 min. 20 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Form: Vocal
Written: 1920

José Serrano (1873 - 1941) : La alegria del batallón :: A una gitana presiosa

Performer: Elina Garanca (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Karel Chichon
Notes: Composition written: 1909.
Running Time: 1 min. 48 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Form: Opera/Operetta
Written: 1909

Bizet, Georges : Carmen, opera :: Habanera. L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (Final version)

Performer: Elina Garanca (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Karel Chichon
Running Time: 4 min. 42 sec.
Period Time: Romantic
Written: 1873-1874

Bizet, Georges : Carmen, opera :: Aria and Chorus. L'amour est enfant de bohème (First version)

Performer: Elina Garanca (Mezzo Soprano)
Conductor: Karel Chichon
Running Time: 3 min. 49 sec.
Period Time: Romantic
Written: 1873-1874

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