"With Sarasa, Soprano Charms With Her Virtuosity And Spirit"

by Richard Dyer

The Boston Globe, May 5, 2003

CAMBRIDGE -- Saturday night brought the privilege of hearing soprano Dominique Labelle join the first-rate Sarasa early-instrument chamber-music series in the intimate and congenial surroundings of the Friends' Meetinghouse here.

Labelle has become so prominent on the national and international scenes that her local appearances have become comparatively infrequent. With Sarasa she sang two cantatas by Handel ("Un'alma innamorata" and "Languia di bocca lusinghiera") and cantatas by Alessandro Scarlatti and Agostino Steffani. Her voice was luscious, flexible, and even over a wide range, and it was thrilling to hear her glorious sound up close. Labelle never sings a meaningless word or an empty phrase; she invests everything with emotion. Her coloratura and ornamentation are always brilliant but never merely that.

Most of the texts were about the pains and pleasures of love, and the soprano introduced them with verbal program notes that were both accurate and goofily charming. "My desire is so strong that even Cupid can't handle me," she translated. And in introducing the second Handel cantata she remarked, "The text says I will be yours forever, but considering the length of the aria, maybe he changes his mind." She was admirably supported by the ensemble of violinists Elizabeth Blumenstock and Kinloch Earle and harpsichordist Charles Sherman, with artistic director Timothy Merton anchoring the harmonies on the cello.

While Labelle was catching her breath, Earle, Sherman, and Merton played a delightful Handel trio sonata, and Sherman nimbly offered two keyboard sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti. Even in this company Blumenstock was outstanding in a Corelli Violin Sonata, which was notable both for dash in the fast movements and for her imaginative control of dynamics, rhythm, and ornamentation in the slower ones, which were quite magical.

The atmosphere was agreeably informal, as the performers rearranged floor lamps so that Labelle could see her music. "We rehearsed this afternoon when there was bright sunlight," she explained. "Now I feel as if I were in my grandmother's living room."