what story does Patricia Petibon want to tell on La traversée?

Problem for an opera singer with an album wish: how do you knead a story from a dozen arias? French soprano Patricia Petibon shouted eureka under a starry sky on the Breton coast. Her thoughts of passion, time and death flowed together in the album title La traversée† the crossing.

Petibon begins in the 17th century. After a shaky start (thin voice, just not pure) the song ends Strike the Viol by Henry Purcell in a carefree whistle. Track 2 has an emotional U-turn. Bisogna moriresings Petibon, we must die, to Stefano Landi’s nevertheless light-footed notes.

Follow Handel, Gluck, Rameau, Mozart and more. With each aria the question grows: what story does Petibon want to tell? A journey through the ages, a pilgrimage through emotions? Conductor Andrea Marcon and the baroque orchestra La Cetra from Basel don’t mind. With wind machine and all they happily slalom along. Too bad the lyrics are missing.