Soulful Prayers from Korean Coloratura

Prayers / James Conlon
by Sumi Jo

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CD Review
by Frank Albinder

Soulful Prayers from Korean Coloratura

Record store remainder bins are littered with pop music CDs by opera divas who often sing lighter fare with the heft of a Wagnerian heroine.... Fortunately, we hear none of that from Jo.

Prayers, a beautifully sung new collection of songs and arias by Korean coloratura soprano Sumi Jo is beyond eclectic. In these difficult days in the recording industry, companies rush to repackage, reinvent and cross-market their stars in the hopes of squeaking out a few more dollars from a public that is becoming increasingly content to download their music from the internet. Often the recording companies' machinations are at the expense of the listening public (witness The Three Tenors, Andrea Bocelli and Charlotte Church), though some would find it hard to argue with success, even if it comes by way of strong retail sales.

Sumi Jo has traversed a fascinating path to the international celebrity she enjoys today. Born in Seoul and worked hard by an ambitious mother (as a child, she was locked in her room and forced to practice piano for eight hours a day, while also taking lessons in figure skating, singing, ballet and Korean instruments), Jo escaped to Rome when she was 19 to study singing. She was lifted to international stardom by the legendary Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan after he heard her singing in Verdi's Rigoletto, her first professional appearance in Italy. Appearances at the Salzburg Festival, recordings and opera engagements around the world soon followed, and Jo's career was well established in very short order.

A coloratura soprano in the tradition of Joan Sutherland, Jo also enjoys singing popular music. On this CD she sings both with style, grace and surefooted musicianship. Record store remainder bins are littered with pop music CDs by opera divas who often sing lighter fare with the heft of a Wagnerian heroine. Fortunately, we hear none of that from Jo, who reserves the fireworks for arias by Donizetti and Rossini while also managing to pull of a stunning a cappella rendition of "Amazing Grace" with the warmth and soulfulness of a southern gospel singer.

One might assume that with a title like "Prayers," the CD would contain mostly well-known favorites to guarantee strong sales. But Jo and her record company (Erato) have taken risks by programming many unknown works on the disc. Yes, there are familiar classics like a touching and sweet Pie Jesu from Fauré's Requiem and a solemn Laudate Dominum from Mozart's Vesperae solennes de Confessore. But not many sopranos would include obscure arias from Rossini's "Siege of Corinth" and Donizetti's "Maria Stuarda," not to mention an even more obscure aria from a Schubert opera (yes, Schubert who wrote more than a dozen operas).

There are many musical highlights on the recording, including the stunning opening track "Kaddisc" by Maurice Ravel. This Aramaic prayer for the dead, now a part of the Jewish worship service, is gorgeously sung by Jo. Her rendition of Gigi's "Say a prayer for me tonight" from the Lerner and Loewe musical is simple and touching. Jo alters her tone to reflect the style of each piece. In one interview, she even claims to sing classical and popular music with different vocal techniques -- an interesting approach that bears ample fruit on this recording.

There are many musical highlights on the recording, including the stunning opening track "Kaddisch" by Maurice Ravel.

There are a few pieces in the collection that do not resonate well: Richard Strauss's sensuous song "Breit' über mein Hapt" is given a surprisingly chilling reading. Giulio Caccini's "Ave Maria," the oldest piece on the disc, is gussied up with an overly lush modern arrangement by Stephen Mercurio that most Baroque aficionados would consider an abomination. And even the wonderful voice and artistry of mezzo-soprano Susan Graham can't help Jo sell Leonard Bernstein's "Take care of this house" from his less-than-successful Bicentennial musical "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."

Sumi Jo is beautifully accompanied by James Conlon as both pianist and conductor of the Gürzenich-Orchester Kölner Philharmoniker. He shows a fine sense of pacing in all of the repertoire and the orchestra is balanced and well-recorded. The Philharmonischer Chor Köln provides support in several numbers, but their sound is fuzzy and they seem far from the microphones. The lavishly produced CD booklet provides original texts plus English and French translations of all of the songs. But for the arias, they print the original texts only, with bilingual plot summaries -- an odd choice considering the booklet has plenty of empty space and could have easily held all of the translations.

Reviewer Frank Albinder is music director of the Washington Men's Camerata, Washington, D.C.