Elina Garanca: Meditation
Spiritual music from Latvia and the great composers from one of today's outstanding singers.
This is the latest album from the superb Latvian mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca - a peaceful and very personal selection of music from her homeland, in which she is ably supported by the renowned Latvian Radio Choir, alongside more familiar works by Mozart, Bizet and Puccini. She is also joined on the recording by her husband, the well-known Gibraltan conductor Karel Mark Chichon.
There are a couple of real stand out tracks here, like Prauliņš’ Dievaines and Eriks Esenvalds' arrangement of Allegri's Miserere, created especially for this recording.
Garanca has a creamy, rich voice which imbues every phrase with feeling and subtlety. The blending of traditional Latvian spiritual music with opera works well and this album should reinforce her position as one of today's outstanding voices and performers.