Seraphim / Soprano Sara Macliver

ABC Classics has done a stellar job of bringing Australian performers and composers to the attention of international audiences. This 2011 album features soprano Sara Macliver, a versatile singer who is as comfortable with pieces like Fauré's Pie Jesu and Bernstein's "Somewhere" as with the Baroque coloratura repertoire for which she's most widely known. Half of the tracks are devoted to Baroque arias and half to a sampling of pieces ranging from Mozart to Joni Mitchell. About half of the selections were newly recorded and the rest were taken from earlier releases. The title, Seraphim, is appropriate; Macliver's voice is angelic -- pure, chaste, and bright, ideal for the Baroque repertoire -- and she sings with an effortless agility. Generally she uses a relatively straight tone, which at moments, particularly in Handel's "Angels, Ever Bright and Fair," has a gleaming brightness that might be mistaken for a trumpet. Most of the selections are joyful and Macliver brings to them an engaging spirit of ebullience. The arias are mostly familiar and include Handel's "Let the Bright Seraphim," Purcell's "Hark! now the echoing air," and Bach's "Mein gläubiges Herze," and "Schafe könne sicher weiden." A little-known gem is Arne's "The glitt'ring Sun," a shimmering, glowing depiction of a sunrise. Macliver shines (literally and figuratively) in the more recent repertoire as well. Mozart's "Laudate Dominum" is especially radiant, and she brings warmth and eloquent expressiveness to the selections from Ravel's Cinq mélodies populaires grecques and Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne. A variety of Australian orchestras, most frequently Orchestra of the Antipodes led by Brett Weymark, provide very fine, idiomatic accompaniment. The only exception is the chamber group accompanying Purcell's "Now that the sun hath veiled his light," a piece that ought to leap out in its sublime strangeness but comes across here as plodding. The recordings were made at a variety of venues over a period of a decade, but the sound is always clean, well balanced, and immediate. ~ Stephen Eddins

Reviews

There are currently no reviews, be the first one!

Works Details

Handel, George Frideric : Samson, HWV57 :: Let the Bright Seraphim

Performers: Sara Macliver (Soprano); Leanne Sullivan (Trumpet)
Conductor: Brett Weymark
Notes: Composition written: 1741.
Running Time: 5 min. 16 sec.
Period Time: Baroque
Form: Cantata/Oratorio
Written: 1741

Arne, Thomas Augustine : Cantata no 5 :: The Morning

Performer: Sara Macliver (Soprano)
Conductor: Brett Weymark
Running Time: 1 min. 55 sec.
Period Time: Classical
Written: 1755

Vivaldi, Antonio : Il Bajazet [Il Tamerlano], RV703 :: Sposa son disprezzata (I am a wife scorned)

Performer: Sara Macliver (Soprano)
Conductor: Brett Weymark
Running Time: 5 min. 1 sec.
Period Time: Baroque
Form: Opera/Operetta
Written: 1735

Bach, Johann Sebastian : Cantata BWV68 'Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt' (For God so loved the world) :: Mein gläubeges Herze (M

Performers: Sara Macliver (Soprano); Daniel Yeadon (Cello Piccolo)
Conductor: Antony Walker
Running Time: 3 min. 27 sec.
Period Time: Baroque
Form: Cantata/Oratorio
Written: 05/21/1725

Purcell, Henry : The Fairy Queen, Z629 :: Hark! The Echoing Air

Performer: Sara Macliver (Soprano)
Conductor: Antony Walker
Running Time: 2 min. 38 sec.
Period Time: Baroque
Written: 1689

Handel, George Frideric : Theodora, HWV68 :: Angels, Ever Bright and Fair

Performer: Sara Macliver (Soprano)
Conductor: Brett Weymark
Running Time: 4 min. 27 sec.
Period Time: Baroque
Form: Cantata/Oratorio
Written: 1749

Purcell, Henry : An Evening Hymn to the Ground, "Now that the sun hath veiled his light"

Performers: Stewart Smith (Chamber Organ); Tommie Andersson (Theorbo); Sara Macliver (Soprano); Laura Vaughan (Chamber Organ)
Conductor: Brett Weymark
Running Time: 4 min. 28 sec.
Period Time: Baroque
Form: Choral
Written: circa 1687

Bach, Johann Sebastian : Cantata BWV208 'Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd' (A merry hunt is the only thing that gives

Performer: Sara Macliver (Soprano)
Conductor: Antony Walker
Running Time: 4 min. 38 sec.
Period Time: Baroque
Written: 02/23/1713

Giordani, Giuseppe : Caro mio ben, for voice & piano (or orchestra)

Performer: Sara Macliver (Soprano)
Conductor: Brett Weymark
Running Time: 3 min. 16 sec.
Period Time: Classical
Written: 17th Century

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus : Vesperae solennes de confessore (Solemn Vespers of a Confessor), KV339 :: Laudate Dominum (Praise the

Performer: Sara Macliver (Soprano)
Conductor: Brett Weymark
Running Time: 4 min. 4 sec.
Period Time: Classical
Written: 1780

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus : Zaide, KV344 :: Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben (Rest gently, my dear one)

Performer: Sara Macliver (Soprano)
Conductor: Sebastian Lang-Lessing
Running Time: 6 min. 47 sec.
Period Time: Classical
Form: Opera/Operetta
Written: 1780

Haydn, Franz Joseph : L'anima del filosofo [Orfeo ed Euridice] (The Soul of the Philosopher [Orpheus and Eurydice]), Hob.2

Performer: Sara Macliver (Soprano)
Conductor: Ola Rudner
Running Time: 6 min. 23 sec.
Period Time: Classical
Form: Opera/Operetta
Written: 1791

Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924) : Requiem, Op. 48 :: Pie Jesu

Performer: Sara Macliver (Soprano)
Conductor: Antony Walker
Running Time: 4 min. 18 sec.
Period Time: Post Romantic
Form: Choral
Written: 1887-1900

Ravel, Maurice : Cinq mélodies populaires grecques (Five Popular Greek Melodies) :: Chanson des cueilleuses de lentisqu

Performer: Sara Macliver (Soprano)
Conductor: Benjamin Northey
Running Time: 2 min. 52 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1904-1906

Canteloube, Joseph : Baïlèro

Performer: Sara Macliver (Soprano)
Conductor: Brett Kelly
Running Time: 6 min. 16 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1923-1930

Bernstein, Leonard : West Side Story

Performer: Sara Macliver (Soprano)
Conductor: Brett Weymark
Running Time: 3 min. 25 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Form: Vocal
Written: 1957

Bowman, Calvin : Crossing the Bar, song for voice & piano

Performers: Sara Macliver (Soprano); Catherine Davis (Piano)
Running Time: 2 min. 29 sec.
Period Time: Contemporary
Form: Vocal

Mitchell, Joni : Both Sides Now

Performer: Sara Macliver (Soprano)
Conductor: Brett Weymark
Running Time: 5 min. 2 sec.
Period Time: Contemporary
Written: 1968

Reviews

New Recommendations

Sale Ends May 31st

More Ways To Explore: