Though the name Miriam Gauci does not quite go to the tune of Mirella Freni, it and the voice and repertoire going with it are sufficiently close for the connection to be a natural one. This young Maltese soprano, who made her debut some seven years ago, sings with a purity of tone and a lyrical grace very reminiscent of Freni in the early and most affectionately remembered years of her career. Whether there is here a similar fullness and easy carrying-power in the theatre I do not know, not having heard her 'in the flesh', but her recent recording of Madama Butterfly, also on Naxos (5/92), suggested that, delightful as her singing was, she had some way to go before either the vocal or the dramatic power needed for that ''killer of a role'' (in Callas's phrase) lay quite within her scope. This new recital record confirms the impression of a fresh-voiced, stylishly directed lyric soprano, who gives great pleasure in the parts for which such voices are intended.
Among the most satisfying performances are those of Liu's arias in Turandot, simple and direct in manner, sensitive in style and assured in technical control. Mimi, Angelica, Lauretta and Anna (of Le villi) are scarcely distinguishable one from another as voice-characters, but all have a youthful tenderness in which nothing cloys, and all can readily be slotted into a dramatic context. Manon Lescaut, especially in her final desperation, presents more of a problem, for the emotion here is somewhat mild not only in the acting but in the nature of the vocal resources. Tosca too needs to have more to call upon. To a still greater extent is this true about the Leonora of La forza del destino: again Gauci sings the aria with genuine appreciation of stylistic matters but without sufficient reserves of a dramatic soprano's weight and richness. For similar reasons, Desdemona suits her better than Elisabeth de Valois. Several of the recordings also convey, perhaps unfairly, a notion that the voice is being cossetted by a resonant acoustic and by the relatively subdued sound of the orchestra. Still, there is some lovely singing here, and nothing should detract from that.'