Sumi Jo - Baroque Journey

Love Sumi Jo, and especially love her rendition of the Coffee Cantata!

Excellent!!!

This was one of her best that I've heard so far. She can do such wonderful things with that crystal clear voice of hers! Highest praise for this one!

It is true that Ms. JO is Korean, and the languages she sings in this disc are all foreign to her.That said, while it is fully evident that Ms. JO possesses a very beautiful bel canto voice and is rightfully considered to have an almost impeccable technique, having learnt her art from the reknowned Dame Joan Sutherland who is her mentor in the early stages of JO's illustrious career, it is also fully evident that she has acquired the mannerisms of Dame Joan, notably failing to sing out full sense of the texts by crystal clear prounciations and enunciations of the libretti.Be it Italian, English or German, am afraid that Ms. JO had only one concern - to sing the melodic lines in the utmost beautiful tone and musical lines. The consonants, the vowels, are blurred into a maze of lovely sounds.Compare her Handel with Kiri Te Kanawa in "Let the bright seraphim" and "I know that my redeemer liveth", let alone 'Where'er you walk', diction clouded into near obscurity.The ever popular 'lascio chio piange' has the basic baroque style of flamboyance totally drowned in the wake of her muddy treatment of the texts. And her over-embellishments sometimes aren't at all to the absolute good taste.

I have dozens of CDs by Sumi Jo; the first one, I purchased in a little Korean shop in Chicago. I was not a fan of opera. Opera to me was background music for Saturday morning cartoons as a kid. But the CD looked interesting because it had several Korean folk songs on it. Sumi Jo not only introduced me to the beauty of these simple Korean melodies, but also to the world of opera. I now have a wide collection of opera on CD. I have a very wide taste in music. I have lived in Japan, visited Sri Lanka, and studied in China. Sumi Jo is still one of my favorites. I have learned a lot from years of Zen meditation, but now I am truly happy. Eric Clapton, Astor Piazzolla and Pablo Ziegler, Ma Xiaohui, Mozart, Willie Nelson, Maria Callas, Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond, Vince Gill, Paul Butterfield and Mike Bloomfield, Inoue Yosui, and Sumi Jo make life worth living.

It's beeen a long time between CDs, but Baroque Journey has been worth waiting for. Sumi Jo's voice just gets better, and the choice of baroque pieces is superb. An exquisite listening experience.

Allez Hop et un disque récital baroque de plus...S'y essaye avec quelques couleurs la Coréenne SUMI JO, avec l'éclat Samsung : beaucoup de contrastes et de la virtuosité sans émotion.Un récital propret et bien illustré par quelques standards du genre, mais rien qui restera dans les mémoires, pour des partitions interprétées avec plus de succès par des coloratures baroques plus "débridées" si l'on peut dire : les Magdalena Kozena, Karina Gauvin, Roberta Invernizzi, la Bartoli, etc...Les bonnes qualités de l'enregistrement et sa transparence sonore remontent la moyenne d'une production somme toute, plutôt banale. L'orchestre, très en retrait, fait le minimum syndical et son Chef, très effacé, ne semble pas vouloir contrarier la chanteuse, ni ses musiciens d'ailleurs, par quelques directives qui auraient profité au rythme de l'ensemble ; peut-être pour avoir la paix ? Rendons lui grâce...1. Vivaldi : "Nulla in Mundo pax sincera" : Plaisant ....2. Vivaldi : "Agitata da due venti" : relevé ... mais manque un peu le furioso !4. Handel : "As steals the morn upon the night"... presque trop pastoral ...8 Handel : "Let the bright Seraphim" ; où est la lumière précisément ?11 Handel : "Lascia ch'io pianga" - Réveillez moi quand c'est fini ...13 Handel : "I know that my Redeemer liveth"- Mou et englué...