Girls who are boys who like boys to be girls

The cover of Joyce Di Donato’s third recital disc Diva, Divo immediately tells the listener that either the famed mezzo (along with the Orchestre et Choeur de L’Opera National de Lyon under Kazushi Ono) has decided to release a recording of music from Victor/Victoria, or her new CD will feature her performing arias as male and female characters. Alas, despite the exciting possibility of hearing JDD work her magic on “Le Jazz Hot,” this reviewer must report that Diva, Divo offers the listener the latter option.

First, let’s get through the least surprising, but most important part of this review. DiDonato sings ravishingly throughout this recording. Those who are already fans of that fresh as spring water timbre, sensitivity to the text and rapid, ardent vibrato will be pleased by her work here. Yet, to say that DiDonato is in gorgeous voice isn’t exactly news, she is one of the world’s most reliably brilliant opera stars, not to mention one of its least controversially popular personalities. And it seems the American diva (divo?) is aware that a mere disc of her singing mezzo arias would not only be redundant for her, but probably would not make it past the pitch room in an environment where a solo recital disc every 2-3 years is no longer an automatic for major opera stars.

And Diva, Divo is certainly not your run of the mill (diva + orchestra) = greatest hits recording. What we have is a recital disc that sets a high minded conceptual challenge for both the singer and the audience, making the recording more interesting while also elevating the potential for failure beyond the reach of DiDonato’s considerable vocal abilities. Diva, Divo presents an opportunity for DiDonato to explore mezzo sopranos unique position as opera’s resident gender benders. From the liner notes:

Aside from the obvious Toscas or Salomes I would love to have sun, I have never regretted my slightly longer vocal cords, for this genetic blessing has allowed me to portray a wealth of characters from young boys to princesses, from ardent young men to demented murderous wives. A richer tapestry of human emotions would be hard to find, and that translates into sheer fun for me! It is this exploration of our world, both external and internal, that continually sets me on fire.

It’s a persuasive point. Lyric mezzos like DiDonato are consistently asked to not only dress as boys, teens or full grown Greek emperors, they must physically embody maleness on stage: the square shoulders, straightened backs and flat feet of men. As Mozart’s Cherubino and Richard Strauss’ Komponist (both represented here) mezzos must represent the constant, if misguided, sexual energy of teenage boys.

In addition, DiDonato and co. have also chosen to limit the selections to works that allow us to compare different composers’ takes on the same story and characters. So we have both Massenet and Mozart’s Cherubin/Cherubino, Vitellia and Sesto from Mozart and Gluck’s versions of La clemenza di Tito, Massenet’s Ariane and Richard Strauss’ Komponist, Massenet’s Le Prince Charmant and Rossini’s Cenerentola.

Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that the dueling concepts were going to impede my ability to easily engage in the kinds of rigorous gendered comparison DiDonato clearly wants the listener to remain attentive to. Am I meant to compare the subtle vocal differences that emerge out of embodying different genders (and different genders at different ages) or am I comparing Massenet and Rossini’s different musical interpretations of the Cinderella myth?

This confusion is somewhat compounded by a seemingly random track order. Normally I wouldn’t care about track listing order on a recital disc; I’ve never cursed the Gods for putting “Vissi d’arte” before “Un bel di” on Price’s “Blue” album. But here all of the elements of the recording from the cover art to the liner notes, even the different fonts used for male and female characters in the included libretto encourage us to compare.

In that spirit, shouldn’t DiDonato’s wistful, girlish rendition of “Giunse alfin il momento… Deh, vieni, non tardar” be followed by her boyish, romantic “Voi che sapete?” Instead, Susanna is followed by Gluck’s Sesto in “Se mai senti spirarti,” an aria and composer I am relatively new to and don’t know enough about to comment on here. Shouldn’t a Massenet aria like Le Prince Charmant’s “Cour sans amour” be in direct conversation with DiDonato’s heartstoppingly beautiful rendition of “Ô frêle corps” from Ariane? The latter is instead paired with the Komponist’s aria—to my dismay a seriously underpowered rendition—when the two characters really have nothing to do with each other.

More happily I can report that DiDonato does employ subtle—yet noticeable if you listen for them—vocal modulations between her male and female characters and once I had listened to the album a few times through I began to make my own comparisons. I noticed that when singing as a teen/man the voice seemed to be very forward placed, fresh sounding, beseeching in that way that only a 18-25 year old twink can be and there was both tasteful deployment of straight tone and a slightly harder edged vibrato when appropriate.

By contrast, DiDonato employed a rounder, more covered, flirtatious tone when singing as a woman. Her “Contro un cor,” my favorite track on an album of gems, was a prime example of her ability to add a dollop of feminine sexuality with just an ascending scale or two. Her most masculine performance on the disc was as Bellini’s Romeo which, not coincidentally, also requires DiDonato to push her voice to its lower limits. Yet her version of “Je suis gris” from Massenet’s Cherubin (which opens the CD and sets the tone for the gorgeous vocalism that is to come) sounds significantly less “boyish” than her Cherubino or her Komponist.

Indeed, at the end of the day what stays with me about this recording is less DiDonato’s potential to make it work with a second career as a drag king and more the impression that that there may be no other mezzo soprano before the public who can best her in the romantic French and Italian rep featured here. “Diva, Divo” features one of the world’s greatest opera stars singing music that is particularly attuned to her vocal gifts, and isn’t that reason enough to release a recital disc? Highly Recommended!