Trying to track down any background to this singer is a difficult task. No live performances seem to have been reviewed widely and the biography printed in this booklet is sketchy, to say the least. So far Inessa Galante’s reputation has been built on her recordings, which comprise her first recital entitled “Debut” (Campion, 11/95) and a disc of Rachmaninov and Goldins songs (Campion, 8/96). Now comes this ambitious second operatic disc, which sees her tackling some of the major roles of the repertoire.
The voice itself is immediately attractive. Galante is a lyric coloratura, with more emphasis on the “lyric”, although she experiences no obvious difficulty getting around the notes of Violetta’s or Leonora’s (in Il trovatore) cabalettas. With its sparkling tone-quality and fast vibrato, her soprano sounds almost ideal for Liu or the lyrical side of Gilda, especially in a nicely phrased “Tutte le feste”. Her Madam Butterfly is also pleasing as far as it goes, though the opening phrases of “Un bel di” are tremulous and the climax taxes her resources; one senses that she would not have the expansiveness of voice to deal with either the Trovatore Leonora or Adriana Lecouvreur in the theatre. La traviata is more likely to be her home ground, once she has sorted out a few moments that sound less than idiomatic, including her strange choice of a high C (an unhappy second best to the traditional E flat) to close “Sempre libera”.
The two French items are disappointing, as both Gounod’s Marguerite and Massenet’s Manon ask for less vague enunciation and more spirit from the orchestra than the sluggardly Alexander Vilumanis provides here. But the Russian arias are quite seductive, settling in the portion of her voice just below the top of the stave where the tone is at its most beguiling. If Galante has not yet sung Tchaikovsky’s Tatyana, she would seem to be made for it.'