Whoever thought of fusing Italian Baroque arias with jazz standards was onto a winner. Joyce DiDonato, one of the most communicative classical singers of our time, is the perfect choice to give us a delight such as Giordani’s “Caro mio ben” one minute, lifted into the sizzling world of a late-night jazz club, and the George Shearing standard “Lullaby of Birdland” the next. With a seriously impressive five-piece band, led by pianist Craig Terry, who made the arrangements, Songplay bravely crosses barriers and draws on the best of the many worlds it inhabits.
- Elīna Garanča, Orquesta Filarmonica De Gran Canaria & Karel Mark Chichon
- Anne Sofie von Otter & Bengt Forsberg
- Sonya Yoncheva
- Diana Damrau, Mariss Jansons, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra & Helmut Deutsch
- Jakub Józef Orliński, Il Pomo d'Oro & Maxim Emelyanychev