In 2009 Australian soprano Emma Matthews released an album simply titled Emma Matthews in Monte Carlo. It was a roaring success so I was excited to hear she was releasing a new recording. Featuring all Mozart arias, this was a chance for Matthews to really show what her voice is capable of.

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to see Matthews perform in Sydney at the Australian premiere of The Turk in Italy, an opera by a very young Rossini. If you’ve only heard her recordings and not yet seen her on stage, then you’ve only seen half the performance. Her voice commands your attention and her acting is also superb – I can now say, having seen Matthews a few times, that we are incredibly lucky to have such a performer here in Australia. She completely stole the stage as the cheeky and man-grabbing Fiorilla in this saucy opera that Rossini decided was too risqué to publish.

Mozart, on the other hand, has more moods and colours than a Pantone colour booklet, from risqué to sombre, from the heights of love to depths of despair. To truly succeed as a singer of Mozart you must not only have the ability to let rip in the large-scale arias, but also to draw the audience in when the drama calls for it. This is exactly what Matthews does in this album, from her command and depth of tone in the ‘Queen of the Night Aria’, which will make you smile involuntarily, to the more subdued ‘Ach, ich fühl’s’ as Pamina laments the loss of her love.

This recording is a terrific blend of arias that you know, with a few that are lesser known, each filled with that Mozartarian vigour and crafted into a dramatic showcase for a truly great singer. Highly recommended.

Kate Rockstrom