Inessa Galante:
a retrospective of some of her recordings
by Ralph Moore

My motivation for presenting this brief survey of some of Latvian soprano Inessa Galante’s recordings is simple: despite her having received many honours in a full and rewarding international career, I think she remains one of most widely under-appreciated singers of the past fifty years, evidenced by the fact that even some knowledgeable opera cognoscenti of my acquaintance are not familiar with her stellar gifts. She is now in her early seventies and chiefly active in the Inessa Galante Foundation, founded in 2013, which supports talented musicians and promotes cultural and charity projects. She has around forty roles in her repertoire ranging from the lighter lyric ones to spinto and verismo operatic heroines; her first major operatic role was Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata which she sang over a hundred times. Despite singing extensively worldwide, especially in Germany, Western Europe and ex-Soviet countries, she was never invited to sing at the Met, Covent Garden or La Scala – their loss.

Her discography is quite extensive and mostly still available, either directly from Campion Records, for whom she mostly recorded, the regular outlets such as Presto and Amazon, or on eBay. The following seven discs do not represent a comprehensive list of her recordings but rather a personal selection including the items I most value and enjoy.

(I have to observe that for all that I applaud Campion’s championing of this singer in their run of recordings, I encountered quite a few typos in the track details, corrected below – accents wrong or missing and misspelled titles; the proofing of foreign languages could have been better.)

The Recordings

Debut – 1994; Campion
The Latvian National Symphony Orchestra/Alexander Vilumanis

1. Casta diva – Norma (Bellini)
2. Je veux vivre – Roméo et Juliette (Gounod
3. Ch’il bel sogno di Doretta – La rondine (Puccini)
4. Je dis que rien ne m’épouvante – Carmen (Bizet)
5. Qual fiamma avea nel guardo! – I Pagliacci (Leoncavallo)
6. Si. Mi chiamano Mimì – La bohème (Puccini)
7. Addio del passato – La traviata (Verdi)
8. Ave Maria, arr. Brinums (G. Caccini)
9. Ave Maria, arr. Brinums (Gounod/J.S. Bach)
10. Panis Angelicus, arr. Brinums (C. Franck)
11. Ach ich fühls – Die Zauberflöte (Mozart)
12. Mercè, dilette amiche – I vespri siciliani (Verdi)
13. L’altra notte – Mefistofele (Boito)
14. O mio babbino caro – Gianni Schicchi (Puccini)
15. D’onde lieta uscì – La bohème (Puccini)
16. Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 – (H. Villa-Lobos)

Of course, while this might have been a “debut”, Inessa – variously Inese – Galante had already been singing in Eastern Bloc countries since she had become a student in Riga in 1977, so she was hardly a novice, but the fall of the Wall enabled her to embark on engagements in the West.

It takes some nerve not only to include ne plus ultra of bel canto arias in your debut album, but also to place it first in the programme but if you have an instrument as classy, as this, it is a gamble worth taking. We may immediately register the perfect vibrato, the seamless legato, the agility in divisions, the beauty and purity of tone, the shining top notes which expand, the control of pianissimi, the neatly articulated Italian diction. The only things on my tick-list which remain unproven are a developed lower register – hardly required for this showpiece, though there by implication if the voice is properly registered and balanced – and that indefinable quality, “personality” or “face”. The last is perhaps the one area which one might fault, in that the voices of many great sopranos are recognisable to me within a few notes, whereas Galante has a slightly more “homogenised” character. I might also say that her French in the second and fourth items is a little mushy compared with her Italian – but that was to improve. She is already singing here in three modern European languages and Latin and of course became celebrated for her Russian heroines, hence the content of her next recital below.

“Il sogno di Doretta” is another brave choice – a real benchmark aria closely associated with divas such as Kiri Te Kanawa, Angela Gheorghiu and Renée Fleming, yet Galante’s soprano shimmers and soars seductively. Her selection of arias here is predominately of the lighter, lyric genre, hence Micaëla from Carmen is an obvious choice; she is as meltingly lovely as any other exponent; as her career and voice developed, she moved into spinto roles. The accompaniment to Nedda’s aria from Pagliacci is just a little sedate but the singing is flawless. Her Mimì is warm, delicate and tender – a real personality, utterly winning.

Violetta was the first role for which she became internationally celebrated. She never made a complete studio recording of La traviata – indeed, she was woefully neglected by the big labels – but Campion have issued a live staged performance from the Latvian National Opera. Here we may hear hints of the lower register which always marks out a great voice and the strength and body of her middle voice are much in evidence in the soupily orchestrated Ave Maria by Caccini, with two absolutely delightful, floated top B-flats.

I briefly mention above the recognisability of some sopranos; in the opening of the Bach-Gounod-Brinums Ave Maria her voice is decidedly reminiscent of Renée Fleming in her prime – which I intend as a compliment and while we are on the subject of German composers, her Pamina is accomplished as any I know, Grümmer and Janowitz included.

The Bolero from Verdi’s I Vespri Siciliani looks forward to the last recital here (see below) of Verdi heroines. She is just a little light of voice for it but there is no lack of power; similarly, the aria from Mefistofele is a heavier item and she finds some rich, dark colours for it and movingly conveys Margherita’s desperation and encroaching mental collapse. Two bon-bons from Verdi and Puccini and an unexpected, wordless finale from Villa-Lobos which gives Anna Moffo a run for her money, complete a highly varied and satisfying anthology.

Heroines – 1995; Campion
The Latvian Opera Orchestra/Alexander Vilumanis

1. Gounod: The Jewel Song (Air des bijoux) – Faust (Act III)
2. Verdi: Caro nome – Rigoletto (Act I)
3. Verdi: Tutte le feste al tempo – Rigoletto (Act II)
4. Puccini: Signore ascolta! – Turandot (Act I)
5. Tchaikovsky: It is near to midnight – Pique Dame (Act III)
6. Rimsky Korsakov: To the Woods – The Snow Maiden (Prologue)
7. Rimsky Korsakov: Final aria – The Snow Maiden (Act IV)
8. Massenet: Adieu, notre petite table – Manon (Act II)
9. Puccini: Un bel di vedremo – Madama Butterfly
10. Verdi: Tacea la notte- Il trovatore (Act I)
11. Verdi: D’amor sull’ali rosee – Il trovatore
12. Puccini: Tu che di gel sei cinta – Turandot (Act III)
13. Verdi: Ah, fors’è lui…Sempre libera – La traviata (Act I)
14. Cilea: Io son l’umile ancella – Adriana Lecouvreur (Act I)

The success of this album is attested to by the fact that it was awarded a Gold disc in 1999 and a Platinum in 2001.

The opening number confirms that we add a properly working trill to Galante’s armoury; the sinews of her French have stiffened and we may be grateful that she is no “tweety-bird”. We move to that poor, deluded ninny Gilda, who earns our sympathy if she sings divinely as per here – again the reliable trill is essential and the vibrancy of those top notes is a dream. There is some nice, grainy, plaintive solo oboe in “Tutte le feste al tempio”. Her Liù in two arias is likewise full-voiced but very touching and again the concluding B-flat of “Signore, ascolta” is perfect.

We move into Russian opera with a powerful rendition of Liza’s aria from Pique Dame, fluidly accompanied by her regular partners, conductor Alexander Vilumanis and the Latvian Opera Orchestra. I often think that it is as fine a work as the more popular Eugene Onegin and Galante give it great advocacy; she is fully immersed in the part. Rimsky Korsakov’s operas are harder nuts to crack but the two arias from Snegourotchka (The Snow Maiden) are charming, especially when so immaculately vocalised – and the final aria from the opera is hauntingly beautiful. The sole Massenet aria gives cause for regret that she didn’t record much of his music at all, despite her voice being in many ideally suited to its sensuality; Italian, Baroque and Russian repertoire dominates. The rest of the recital is uniquely mainstream Italian. Whether the slight tremulousness of her vocal production is best suited to Madama Butterfly is debatable, but if Mirella Freni could do it, so could she. Her two arias for Leonora from Il trovatore are accomplished but perhaps would have benefited from the extra weight her voice gained over the next eight years before the last Verdi recital below. Nonetheless, we hear the excursions into lower register required and a floating cantilena technique which is very beguiling, especially in the long lines of “Damor sull’ali rosee”.

A fearlessly executed aria from La traviata, after that in her “Debut” album is the second of the four studio recording excerpts we have of her most celebrated role (see the third and fourth immediately below). I love the concluding item from Adriana Lecouvreur but for all its vocal accomplishment, I find that here it lacks something in poise and inwardness – or is it perhaps “otherworldliness” I seek? – in that Galante sings out and it is delivered somewhat “straight”, but the concluding pianissimi are so impressive and delivered so subtly with perfect portamento and without undue emotive artifice.

Encore – 1997; Campion
(Favourite Arias, Songs & Duets)
The Latvian National Opera Orchestra*/Alexander Vilumanisˣ/Imants Resnis
The Latvian National Symphony Orchestra†/Alexander Vilumanisˣ/Paul Magi˚/Imants Resnisˇ

1. Voices of Spring (Johann Strauss II)†ˇ
2. “Kommt ein schlanker Bursch gegangen” – Der Freischütz (Weber)†ˇ
3. “Libiamo, ne’ lieti calici” (Brindisi) – La traviata (Verdi) – duet with Jānis Sproģis (tenor)†˚
4. “Dite alla giovine” – La traviata (Verdi) – duet with Samsons Izjumovs (baritone)†ˣ
5. Serenade (Toselli)*ˣ
6. “Doll Song” – The Tales of Hoffmann (Offenbach)*ˣ
7. “Arpa gentil” – Il viaggio a Reims (Rossini)*ˣ
8. Love Duet – The Snow Maiden (Rimsky Korsakov) – duet with Samson Izjumovs (baritone)*ˣ
9.Vocalise, Op. 34 No. 14 – (Rachmaninoff)*ˣ
10. “Quando me’n vo’ soletta” (Musetta’s Waltz) – La bohème (Puccini)*ˣ
11. “Chiedi all’aura lusinghiera” – L’elisir d’amore (Donizetti) – duet with Jānis Sproģis (tenor)†˚
12. “Regnava nel silenzio… Quando rapito in estasi” – Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)*ˣ
13. “Soffriva nel pianto” – Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)– duet with Samson Izjumovs (baritone)*ˣ
14. “Vissi d’arte” – Tosca (Puccini)*ˣ

Further evidence of Galante’s seemingly unlimited versatility is provided by this follow-up to her “Debut” album, ranging over a wide variety of styles and now venturing into duets. The opening track is very jolly; Galante channels Adele from Die Fledermaus deploying a bell-like top in the coloratura and “laughing” runs and the Latvians successfully replicate Viennese Gemütlichkeit. The aria from Der Freischütz exudes more Germanic good humour even if I’m not sure it’s quite her métier. She is adequately if indifferently accompanied by a tenor and baritone respectively in the famous Brindisi and “Dite alla giovine” duets from La traviata. The Toselli song marks another slightly wrenching change of mood in what is rather a hodgepodge of a selection, whereby the sequence of items can feel incongruous – but these are encores, after all. For Olympia’s “Doll Song”, Galante blanches her voice such that it is almost unrecognisable and the resultant “mechanical” feeling is very apt – complete with “wind-up” sound effects. The sole Rossini item here is simply lovely and more frequent dipping into her lower register illustrates the fundamental health of her voice. Carrying on from the previous disc, we have more Snow Maiden in a dramatic if typically rather shapeless duet and once again Anna Moffo is brought to mind in Rachmaninov’s Vocalise. She trills marvellously in Musetta’s aria and makes an enchanting Adina in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore. The mood darkens seriously for the two fairly extensive extracts from Lucia di Lammermoor and yet again the predecessor Galante most resembles in timbre and artistry is Anna Moffo who made a superb complete recording in 1965. She is silvery and fluid of voice, vulnerable and slightly frenetic, as is apt for the portrayal of this most put-upon of heroines – but can also “spin a long line” in “Soffriva nel pianto”. The recital ends with a war-horse: Tosca’s “Vissi d’arte” – exquisitely sung, but some might like a little more heft and “chestiness”.

English translations but no original texts are provided for most of the tracks.

The Tchaikovsky Experience – 1997; BMG/Conifer Royal Opera House
Inessa Galante (soprano)*
Marina Shaguch (soprano)†
Alexander Fedin (tenor)˚
Sergei Leiferkus (baritone)ˣ
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/Neeme Järvi

1. Iolanta: Robert’s Ariaˣ
2. The Oprichnik: Natalya’s Arioso, Act I*
3. Mazeppa: Finale -Scene with Maria and Andrey†˚
4. The Maid of Orleans: Joan’s Aria, Act I*
5. The Queen of Spades: Herman’s Arioso, Act I˚
6. The Queen of Spades: Yeletsky’s Aria, Act IIˣ†
7.Undina: Undina’s Song†
8. The Voyevoda: Bastryukov’s Aria, Act I˚
9. Vakula the Smith: Oksana’s Aria, Act I†
10. Eugene Onegin: Tatyana’s Letter Scene, Act I*
11. The Enchantress: Kuma’s Arioso, Act I†
12. Iolanta: Duet for Iolanta and Vaudemont*˚

This is not a solo recital album; Galante is here in the company of three Russian singers in excerpts from ten of Tchaikovsky’s operas, of which only two are now regularly performed. As such, she sings in only four of the twelve tracks – although irritatingly and inexplicably the booklet nowhere tells you who is singing what; I have indicated that information.

We begin with Sergei Leiferkus’ passionate delivery of Robert’s confession of love for the Countess Mathilde. His baritone is hard, muscular and somewhat nasal – not to all tastes – but I like his energy. Galante also sings Natalya’s arioso passionately; indeed, that quality is the key note to this compilation – Marina Shaguch and Alexander Fedin are equally committed in their closing scene duet and her lullaby from Mazeppa – an opera which could withstand more revivals. There is a hint of bleat to his tenor but his tone is virile and attractive, very Russian and she sings very sweetly. This provides an opportunity to hear music which is probably still unfamiliar to many. Joan of Arc’s aria from The Maid of Orleans will perhaps be a little more familiar to some from recitals; it has a long, memorable melody very recognisably “Tchaikovskian” in character and Galante sings it beautifully. Fedin sings Herman’s arioso from Pique Dame in a manner laden with febrile, erotic yearning, then Leiferkus gives us the most famous aria from that opera, “Ya vas lyublyu” (I love you). He is not as seductive of voice as Yuri Mazurok or the young Hvorostovsky but his is still a wholly admirable and convincing delivery. Shaguch sings another rarity from Undina, an aria which survived Tchaikovsky’s destruction of the score of his Russian Rusalka, and Fedin sings a tenor aria from Tchaikovsky’s first unsuccessful attempt in the genre. Nor has Vakula stood the test of time; Oksana’s aria is again reminiscent in subject matter – but not music – of another from a more famous opera, the “Jewel Song” from Gounod’s Faust. It is a somewhat flaccid piece but Shaguch sings it so winningly; likewise, she makes the most of the rather conventional aria from The Enchantress, also now rarely performed. The centre of the album is surely Tatyana’s Letter Scene from Eugene Onegin. It wasn’t a role that Galante sang complete on stage but she had the spinto heft, youthful timbre and vocal affect to portray Tatyana ideally. Neeme Järvi is generally a fine accompanist but I do find his tempo at first sometimes rather too swift and pushed along but ultimately this showpiece aria emerges triumphant. The final duet from Iolanta happily pairs Galante and Fedin in an extended love scene which might prompt you to acquire the whole opera, such as the excellent recording conducted by Fedoseyev on the Relief (review) and Pan Classics labels, or Gergiev on Philips.

Revisiting this disc reminded me how skilfully the anthology was put together and how well it was sung by four top artists; no wonder it was a success and sold very well. It has long been discontinued but there are plenty of copies on eBay and other second-hand sites.

Arietta – Baroque Arias – 1999; Campion
London Musici/Mark Stephenson
1. Handel: Mio caro bene! (Rodelinda)
2. Pergolesi: Se tu m’ami
3. Durante, F: Danza, Danza
4. Caccini, G: Amarilli mia bella
5. Handel: Lascia ch’io pianga (Rinaldo)
6. Gluck: Che fiero momento (Orfeo ed Eurdice)
7. Monteverdi: Lamento d’Arianna ‘Lasciatemi morire’, SV 107
8. Sarro: Sen corre l’agnelletta
9. Guiseppe Giordani: Caro mio ben
10. Lorenzo Vincenzo Ciampi: Tre giorni son che Nina
11. Pergolesi: Cujus animam gementem (Stabat Mater)
12. Pergolesi: Vidit suum dulcem natum (Stabat Mater)
13. Handel: Ombra mai fu (Serse)
14. Lotti: Pur dicesti, o bocca bella
15. Giovanni Paisello: Nel cor piu non mi sento (La Molinara)
16. Handel: Solo per voi (Solo Cantata: Pastorella vaga bella)
17. Martini, J P: Plaisir d’amour
18.Bononcini, G B: Per la gloria d’adoravi (Griselda)
19. Handel: Tornami a vagheggiar (Alcina)
20. Caccini, G: Ave Maria

It is a pleasure to find that Galante is as adept in the Italian Baroque as the Romantic genre; the bell-like quality if her timbre transfers seamlessly to the Handelian idiom and she is sensitively accompanied here by a small band of eighteen musicians in the London Musici – and there is some very nice solo playing from flautist Anna Noakes in “Lascia ch’io pianga” and Ellen Marsden’s oboe d’amore in the Sarri song and oboe in the penultimate Handel aria – which Galante sings with virtuosic panache. They musical numbers here are a mixture of opera arias and songs, mostly “plums” which will be familiar to old hands but they are classified as such for good reason. The only exceptions in the Italian roster are the French Classical composer Jean-Paul Martini and his famous “Plaisir d’amour” – but that was deliberately “retro” and “air de cour” in style – and the (probably) German Gluck with the aria from Orfeo ed Euridice. I especially like the ease and lightness of Galante’s delivery of the two numbers from Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, in which she rivals the lovely Margaret Marshall for Abbado in the DG recording. The most famous aria here is of course “Ombra mai fu”, here sung straightforwardly without ceremony and all the better for that – although I would have liked a slightly more leisurely tempo. Try as I might, I can never expunge from my mind Pavarotti’s spell-binding account of Bononcini’s “Per la gloria d’adoravi” in his early Bologna recital disc; Galante’s here is, by comparison, just a little prosaic, albeit very prettily sung with trills and pianissimi in place – and I have no doubt that hers is more authentically in style. Finally, do what she may with the Caccini “Ave Maria”, in the arrangement here by Latvian Georgs Brinums it sounds more like another of Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras than anything Baroque – but it’s still a pleasing earful.

Galante goes easy on the embellishments and ornaments, relying more on purity of tone and steadiness of line, and the arrangements of many of the songs by David F Golightly are apt and unobtrusive.

ABC (Albinoni–Bach–Caccini) – 2001; Campion
The Latvian National Opera Orchestra/Alexander Vilumanis (track 1)
London Musici/Mark Stephenson (tracks 2-6)
1. Adagio in G Minor – Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni (arranged for voice)
2. Ei wie schmeckt der Coffee süße – Johann Sebastian Bach
3. Genugsamkeit Cantata 144 (arr. D. Golightly) – J.S. Bach
4. Amarilli mia bella (arr. N. Ingman) – Giulio Caccini
5. Quia respexit (Magnificat) – J.S. Bach
6. Seufzer, Tränen, Kummer, Not (Cantata 21) (arr. D. Golightly) – J.S. Bach

This “Special EP” has a running time of only 26 minutes and was really just a “calling card” issue, recycling recordings from 1995 (Albinoni, in Riga) and 1999: four Bach items presumably left over from the sessions for the previous issue “Arietta” directly above, and the Caccini which was included there.

The melisma of the Albinoni on two different vowels works surprisingly well in combination with the centrally placed violin solo and Galante’s voice soars angelically. The aria, “Oh, how sweet the coffee tastes” from the famous Coffee Cantata is charming; the soprano duets engagingly with the flute, lingering lovingly over the melismata as if savouring the heavenly flavour – though it would have been helpful to have had the text of this and indeed all the Bach for non-German speakers. The Genügsamkeit church cantata is also about contentment, but not of a secular kind: “Genügsamkeit ist ein Schatz in diesem Leben” (Contentment is a treasure in this life) and here the melismata are much gentler, more flowing and measured. The arias from the Magnificat and Cantata No. 21 are both stately duets with the solo oboe; the latter being a typically grave and pious meditation, sung by Galante with smooth beauty:

Seufzer, Tränen, Kummer, Not, Angst und bange Herzeleid Ängstlich Seufzen, traurig Klagen, Nagen, Sorgen, Zagen Sind der Christen Tränenbrot, Die das Zeichen Jesu tragen.

Sighing, tears, sorrow, distress, Fear and anxious heartache, Anxious sighing, sorrowful lamenting, Gnawing worry, trembling— These are the Christians’ bread of tears, Who bear the sign of Jesus.

Verdi Galante – 2003; Campion
Choir of the Stockholm School of Economics, Riga
The Latvian National Symphony Orchestra/Terje Mikkelson
Un ballo in maschera (1858):
1. Ma dall’arido stelo divulsa (Act 2)
2. Morrò, ma prima in grazia (Act 3)
La forza del destino (1862):
3. La Vergine degli angeli (Act 2)
4. Pace, pace mio Dio! (Act 4)
Aida (1871):
5. Ritorna vincitor (Act 1)
6. O patria mia (Act 3)
Don Carlo (1884):
7. Tu che le vanità (Act 4)
Otello (1887):
8. Salce, salce (Act 4)
9. Ave Maria (Act 4)
Falstaff (1893):
10. Sul fil d’un soffio etesio (Act 3)
Requiem (1874):
11. Libera me

The punning title of the final recital considered here was obviously irresistible. The programme consists of some “big-hitters” from Verdi’s six last operas and the Requiem, several of which are vocally even more demanding and proclamatory than some of Galante’s earlier ventures into the genre – but also included is the filigree-light aria from Falstaff, as if she wished to demonstrate that she had lost no delicacy.

I am sure that I am not imagining a new weight, depth and darkness in Galante’s voice here compared with earlier recitals. Obviously the repertoire calls for those qualities and she immediately in the first aria from Un ballo in maschera demonstrates how she can both plunge into her lower register but also “float a note” and apply melting messa di voce; this is not the pretty lyric voice of the “Debut” album; you have only to hear the concluding triplet of cavernous low notes on “Miserere” before the leap up to a wonderfully controlled pianissimo top B-flat “Ah!” to acknowledge that this is a proper Verdi soprano. Comparisons with Leontyne Price for Leinsdorf are decidedly in order here. “Morrò – ma prima in grazia” is similarly a tour de force of delicacy and control. The prayer aria from La forza del destino is likewise poised and moving and “Pace, pace mio Dio!” is passionately sung, complete with another splendid pianissimo B-flat. She hasn’t quite the size of voice or bravura to entirely conquer the Aida arias and I find the orchestral accompaniment to be a little pallid and polite, but she vividly portrays the Ethiopian princess as vulnerable and suffering, with skill and sincerity. “O patria mia” is surely one of the greatest tests for a lirico-spinto Verdi soprano and Galante is by no means defeated by it, finding Caballé-like delicacy and power for the big moments – and in fact treating the aria in a manner rather similar to the Catalan diva’s, with a tremendous top C and diaphanous top As. The long orchestral introduction to the Don Carlo aria receives is vividly played and Galante throws herself into depicting the beleaguered queen’s anguish; it is surely another of those great challenges for the Verdi soprano. She has all the notes, including the lower register for “La pace dell’avel”. Desdemona is in many ways the later Verdi role most suited to her voice and she sings her extended scene flawlessly – one begins to take for granted the absence of the little flaws which can fleck the voices of even the best singers; her technique is remarkable. However, despite the accomplishment of her singing, I am a little disappointed by what I hear as the unduly speedy tempo adopted for Nanetta’s aria from Falstaff; it loses something of its ethereal nature when pressed too hard. As compensation, her account of the “Libera me” is stupendous, her voice encompassing all its strenuous demands from the gutsy and declamatory to the gossamer light – but it’s a pity about the little catch in her voice before the otherwise perfectly controlled ppp top B-flat on “Requiem” before the fugue. The concluding top C is utterly secure and the muttered final phrases are highly atmospheric.

The presence of a chorus (there and for track 3) is not just an asset but obviously essential, although they are not the most refined or powerful of choirs.

Of the seven discs covered here, this is the one I would urge you to acquire if you do not know this remarkable singer. Many of the tracks may first be sampled on YouTube.