Robin Johannsen appeared in my competition as a Semifinalist in the Spring of 2001 in Carnegie Hall. She was immediately snapped up by management and whisked away to Bayreuth where she appeared as the Forest Bird in Siegfried that Summer. She has had quite a successful career in Europe, specializing in early music, which showcases her brilliant silvery sound at its best. Johannsen has made more than a few fine recordings, of which the above is her latest star turn. Here is a review quoted from amazon of this, her latest disc:
The Neapolitan school, with its exceptional depth of varied musical talent, provides rich pickings for brilliant performers as well as enthusiasts of Italian baroque music. This is well illustrated by the present programme which brings us a nicely varied selection of arias from opera, cantata and oratorio by composers both well-known – such as Pergolesi and Alessandro Scarlatti – and less so. The selection proves a fine vehicle for the lovely soprano voice of Robin Johannsen, accompanied in spirited and stylish fashion by the period instruments of Teatro del Mondo directed by Andreas Küppers.The first item is an aria from Pergolesi’s cantata ‘Orfeo’; this is an impassioned piece, beautifully showing off the singer’s incisive, accurate high notes, lovely tone in the lower registers and great range of expressive qualities, further enhanced by the rich, silky string tone of the instrumental passages. Other vocal works are from Domenico Sarro, Giacomo Sellitto, Leonardo Vinci, Johann Adolph Hasse, Gaetano Latilla and Cristofaro Caresana, every one of them expressive, graceful in melodic line and sometimes with mesmerising instrumental parts as in Vinci’s beautiful ‘Come, o Dio’ from the oratorio ‘Maria dolorata’. The da capo arias, such as Sellitto’s ‘In te spero’, are graced with finely embellished closing sections.A handful of instrumental works, no doubt included for extra variety, are a bit more of a mixture. The anonymous recorder concerto (tracks 4-6) is fairly mediocre, but is rendered enjoyable by some spirited and evocative playing. On the other hand the cello concerto by Dominico Lanzetti (10-12) is an attractive and tuneful work with a bold solo part, superbly played here by Lea Rahel Bader and with a colourful accompaniment from the other instruments including two horns. After a couple more arias, a short Largo movement from a concerto by Scarlatti is an odd choice for the programme’s conclusion; there are several rousing and rumbustious pieces in this programme and one of these would surely have made for a more satisfying finish.The contents of the booklet are interesting and informative on the nature and development of the Neapolitan musical tradition, but the layout is a bit confusing; we could also have done with more information on the lesser-known composers represented here. There’s a detailed account of Robin Johannsen’s performance experience, though not necessarily in the right order. Texts and translations are supplied, but somehow the English translations got mixed up; so, for example, the English translation of item 8 is shown as item 2; 9 as 8; 14 as 9; 2 as 13; and 13 as 14.Recorded sound is excellent, and the above reservations about the booklet don’t detract at all from a fascinating and extremely enjoyable recital of outstanding quality. The soprano has already brought us several fine recordings of lesser-known baroque music including the superb Caldara selection ‘In dolce amore’, and the present programme is just as welcome. Enthusiasts of baroque vocal music, or of fine singing in general, need not hesitate.
