Jamie Barton & Brian Zeger - All Who Wander (2016) FLAC

Enthusiasts of the big operatic voice have been coming out of the woodwork for this recital by the young mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, who scored several successes in big houses before the release of All Who Wander in late 2016. At first glance you may wonder why: her notes are on the gushy side; the All Who Wander theme only loosely fits the program's most unusual item, the group of songs by Jean Sibelius; and Delos' graphic design seems to have been done on the cheap. But just wait until you hear the first taste of Barton's incredibly creamy voice in the Mahler Five Rückert Songs. Just sample Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen, and you'll hear justification for Joyce DiDonato's blurb in the graphics about how Barton "reminds you of how capable the human voice is of creating something of absolute beauty." Barton has not only a gorgeous sound, but attractive control in the long lines of the Mahler, and she shifts gears easily into the more folkish mood of Dvorák's Gypsy Songs, Op. 55. The sparsely performed Sibelius songs may not be intricately linked to the rest of the program, but they're well done in their own right, largely in the Germanic mainstream rather than the Nordic idiom of the composer's orchestral music or the lighter language of his theatrical compositions. Sibelius lovers will be glad to have them, and everybody can rejoice at the emergence of a major new American talent. -- James Manheim