Jane Eaglen - Bellini & Wagner
Bellini and Wagner may seem like a musical odd couple, but the pairing makes sense since Italian bel canto formed one of the streams that fed the tumultuous torrent of Wagnerian music drama.  Jane Eaglen's sumptuous dramatic soprano is a throwback to rare prima donnas of the past who excelled in the music of both composers although, like them, she possesses a voice whose size and amplitude often defeat the microphone's ability to capture it with realism. Still, there's much to admire, including the sheer novelty of so sizeable a voice negotiating Bellini's fragile lines and the sheer beauty of much of the singing.  However, despite some thrilling whoops and hollers in Brünnhilde's battle cry fromDie Walküre, impact is dimmed by a hint of interpretive blandness, routine orchestral accompaniments, and, especially in Bellini, a rhythmic slackness. An important, if flawed, document of one of the great voices of our age.--Dan Davis