Marc'Antonio in MARC'ANTONIO E CLEOPATRA

Ars Lyrica

"Both roles in the Ars Lyrica recording are sung by not by men, but women: the mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton dons Antony’s breastplate and lets loose her gutsy powerhouse of a voice, which must project much of the intensity, texture and presence of the castrato voice of yore... The scope and nuance of Barton’s powerful voice gives real resonance to Antony’s character, the defeated warrior and statesman basking in a fragrant twilight of love and death. In her first aria, Barton shapes Hasse’s repeated musical figures with an ardor that cannot betray a lack of control. Barton’s reading...revels in the musical surface— the ardent ascent of a figure, the bloom of a long note, placement of the trill. It is music that shows off the richness and color of her voice, both its breadth and its impressive mobility. Her Antony never loses his cool—and that is the crucial galant attribute of this music and its performance."
–David Yearsley, CounterPunch

"Barton is a secure singer and her voice is handsome. As a skillful singing actor, she brings some dramatic imagination (and a welcome pushing of her vocal envelope) to the recitative before "Come veder potrei" and sings the aria with feeling."
–Judith Malafronte, Opera News