BIDÚ SAYÃO - O Luar da Minha Terra (2006) Mp3

On O luar da minha terra, Brazilian label Revivendo makes available eight more of historic soprano Bidu Sayão's early Brazilian recordings, made in 1935-1936, than have been previously available outside of her home country. A selection of eight showed up on a VAI Audio release Bidu Sayão: Rarities not long before she died in 1999; this one, however, boasts 16 early Brazilian selections, including popular songs in Portuguese, operatic selections, and a couple of numbers from Carlos Gomes' zarzuela Il Guarany and incorporating all of the ones that appeared on VAI. It is filled out by a handful of Sayão's American Columbia recordings from the late '40s, familiar already to those who know her. O luar da minha terra is a little less than absolutely delightful owing to some heavy-handed application of CEDAR noise reduction technology to the originals; while Sayão often comes through clear and strong, sometimes the band behind her sounds like it is playing from the deepest recesses of one's freezer owing to the effect of too much processing. For the later Columbia recordings, O luar da minha terra would be a ridiculous choice; in the famous 1945 Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, Villa-Lobos' eight cellos sound like they need their own mukluks and igloos, their strangled notes rising up from the depths of a deep freeze. For that, Sony Masterworks Heritage's definitive release Bidu Sayão: Arias & Brazilian Folksongs remains the one indisputable choice in compact disc form. It is also true that the VAI remains the preferred option for at least the eight tracks it shares with the Revivendo item. On the other hand, the listener who is an absolute devotee of Bidu Sayão cannot argue against the concept of "more," and that is what Revivendo's O luar da minha terra has to offer; eight more Bidu Sayão recordings that available nowhere else, though that is the only advantage it has over other releases; in every other way it's substandard. Notwithstanding the digital aspect, all of the recordings emphasize what a strong and beautiful instrument Sayão had, apparent even in the most maudlin material. Sometimes the sound of the short breaths she takes to fuel extraordinarily long lines of singing, such as in "Cancão da Felicidade," can heighten the sense of emotional power Sayão is able to sustain, which is uncanny. Indeed, Sayão was a treasure; these digital transfers, however, are more like junk jewelry. by Uncle Dave Lewis 

BIDÚ SAYÃO - Bachiana Brasileira Nº 5, Opera Arias & Brazilian Folksongs (1996) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Bidú Sayão's silvery, impeccably tuned voice was small in size, but rich in nuance, shading, and emotion. Her recording of the Villa-Lobos Bachiana Brasileira No. 5 is justly famous, unmatched for lightness and sensuality. Few have dashed off the Jewel Song from Faust with similar insouciance or imbued the last phrases of Manon's "Adieu , notre petite table" as touchingly as Sayão does here. Her French song interpretations glow with charm and style, and a previously unreleased snippet from Ravel's L'enfant et les sotilèges makes one regret she never recorded the entire role, Sony's transfers are more lifelike and three dimensional than previous issues. A delectable disc. Amazon

HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS - Floresta do Amazonas (1960) FLAC (tracks), lossless

HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS [1887-1969]

Floresta do Amazonas

Heitor Villa-Lobos conducting

Symphony of the Air & Chorus

Bidu Sayão - Soprano

(1960-1996) EMI / FLAC (tracks), lossless

O Púbis da Rosa

BIDU SAYÃO - Rarities (1999) FLAC (tracks), lossless

 Brazilian soprano Bidu Sayão had one of the most remarkable voices in the history of recorded music; light, agile, emotional, powerful and always true to pitch with an uncanny expressiveness that seemed almost innate. She was criminally under-recorded -- although her career spanned some 35 years, already a decade of it had expired when she first stepped in front of the mike and her relationship with it would prove spotty, except for a few years in the mid-1940s when she was a contract artist with CBS Records in New York. The two discs of reissues released in Sony Masterworks Heritage series in the 1990s contains most of her recorded output, however in VAI Audio's Bidu Sayão: Rarities, a good portion of the uncollected material is gathered together in one place for the first time. This consists of a selection taken from among Sayão's first recordings, made in Brazil in 1935-1936 of popular Brazilian songs and a couple of arias from Carlos Gomes' zarzuela Il Guarany, and operatic excerpts taken from radio broadcasts from 1948-1951. The earlier discs feature Sayão in youthful and resplendent voice, and that uncanny expressiveness mentioned earlier irradiates from these sides with nearly the penetration of sunlight itself; the only drawback is the rather strained and second-rate playing of the Brazilian recording orchestras that support Sayão on these outings, but she is so intense that you don't care about them. In the broadcast material, Sayão is partnered on a couple of numbers with no less than Italo Tajo and Jussi Björling; Tajo is wickedly humorous enough in his cackling delivery of Donizetti's patter from L'Elisir d'amore to warrant mention apart from Sayão. By the time of these recordings, Sayão was nearing retirement and her voice was somewhat darkening; however, the sense of drama and communication is still intact, and this features a particularly fine rendering of Micaëla's aria from Bizet's Carmen, to single out one highlight of many. There are also rare, late examples of Sayão singing verismo arias, a part of the repertoire she scrupulously avoided for the better part of her singing career.
The recordings used here were part of the collection of William Seward, who annotated many classic opera collections in the LP era and cared well for his own sources; there is an occasional pop and click among the broadcast sources, but otherwise they are not at all noisy and true to the original signal. Some labels outside the United States have lately begun to reissue Sayão's early recordings in horrendous transfers. However, if you are looking for those, VAI's Rarities is the one you want, the Brazilian 78s come through with honesty, clarity, and a minimum of noise with no added effects that would tend to rain on Sayão's parade. by Uncle Dave Lewis 
Tracklist:
 1 A casinha pequenina (The Tiny Little House) 3:32
 2 Canto da saudade (Song of Longing) 4:31
 3 Cisnes (Swans) 4:43
 4 O luar da minha terra (The Moonlight of My Homeland) 2:38
 5 Canção da felicidade (Song of Happiness) 3:06
 6 Cantiga (Song) 2:20
 Il Guarany, opera
7      C'era una volta un principe 4:51
 8 Gentile di cuore 3:33
 L' elisir d'amore, opera
9 Quanto amore 6:37
 Roméo et Juliette, opera
10 Je veux vivre 3:42
 11 Va! je t'ai pardonné 10:31
 Carmen, opera
12 Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante 5:40
 Manon, opera in 5 acts
13 Voyons, Manon 4:15
 14 Adieu, notre petite table 4:23
 Manon Lescaut, opera
15 In quelle trine morbide 2:18
 La bohème, opera
16 Donde lieta uscì 3:02
 L' amico Fritz, opera (commedia lyrica) in 3 acts
17 Son pochi fiori 2:54
18 Die Letzte Rose (as interpolated into "Martha") 3:18