Rebecca Sjöwall / Critiques

Soprano Rebecca Sjöwall sang a lovely and limpid Liù, making her opening plea to Calaf (“Signore, ascolta!”) beautifully modulated and her closing suicide before Turandot (“Tanto amore segreto”) deeply affecting.

“Life With the Macbeths” closed the album with the third Shakespeare reference [“Bummer” also referenced The Bard] as an opera duet featuring Russell sharing the mic with soprano Rebecca Sjöwall, who had previously sung on the brother’s “Ingmar Bergman” opus. This amazing song extrapolated “Macbeth” into a “reality TV” show to stunning comic effect. Part of the stunning was accomplished by soprano Sjöwall reaching C6 on the lyric “soar” [obviously] and “Score” at the song’s climax; having held back throughout the rest of the song.