Karina Gauvin’s name may not come immediately to mind when thinking of outstanding performers of Mozart’s popular motet for soprano and orchestra Exsultate, jubilate, but on evidence of her effort here, it should. Her lovely, lyrical singing and facile, effortless technique make this time-worn masterpiece a perfect delight to hear yet one more time–right there along with Elly Ameling’s captivating live performance with Benjamin Britten from 1969 and Cecilia Bartoli’s powerfully charismatic rendition with György Fischer and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. And this is only part of this gorgeously sung program of well-chosen solo vocal pieces–with a Haydn symphony thrown in for good measure. (I wonder why Schubert’s beautiful offertory Totus in corde langueo, with its terrific clarinet obbligato–à la Shepherd on the Rock–isn’t performed more often.)
Bernard Labadie shows that not only does he know how to get superb articulation and the most subtle phrasing effects from instrumentalists, but he also is a singer’s conductor who fully engages with the soloist in an ideal, complementary relationship–most effectively exhibited in Mozart’s opera-style motet Ergo interest . . .Quaere superna, which alone is worth the price of the disc. The CBC Orchestra is a pretty decent ensemble, but Labadie encourages exceptional precision (listen to those perfectly phrased–and very tricky–voice/orchestra dialogues in the Schubert Salve Regina, for example), warm, singing string tone, and excellent balances from top to bottom. Strangely, while the symphony shows remarkable clarity and detail, there’s a prevailing weightiness both to the sound and rhythmic feel–not in evidence elsewhere on the program–that pulls against the music’s momentum and reins in the more free-spirited aspects of its character. The rating, then, is specifically for the Gauvin selections. The CBC engineers and Vancouver’s Orpheum Theatre provide a sonic environment that couldn’t be better for these performers or this repertoire. Gauvin is simply wonderful–don’t miss the chance to hear what I mean. [12/20/2001]
