[Op.123]

I really like Teyte here. The voice seems aged (she would have been 56?) but retains beauty and there is something effecting about that slightly reedy hint to her timbre which makes this all the more moving. Not necessarily a voice which, at this stage in her career, I’d want to here in opera, but it’s a lovely instrument with a personal sound and used thoughtfully. Her French diction, as well as her styling, is superb and coupled with that elegant, aged beauty of her sound this recording is arrestingly vivid in it’s capability to transport you back to some evening of the past, and into a little French salon where a lady sits and gently sings of love and sadness. She gets my vote.

 

[Op.123]

Is portamento a nice way of saying those swoops and scoops tthat come from the mouth of Renee Fleming too often?

Swoops and scoops are signs of faulty technique. They signify that the singer is having difficulty finding a note or keeping the resonance consistent as they ascend/descend etc. They sound like a slow or unsteady portamento. Portamenti, when properly done, are not a sign of poor technique and are used to expressively join two notes in a natural manner.