The young Bulgarian soprano Vania Vatralova-Stankov started taking violin lessons at the age of five. At the same time she also began vocal training, leading eventually to her graduating from the Dobri Hristov College of Music in both violin and singing. Today she concentrates on her singing career. She is a resident of the UK and has appeared with opera companies as well as in concert. For this recital disc she has chosen arias from operas in which she has sung on stage. These include La traviata, in which she made her debut with the Royal Opera School Company. She has also sung in Carmen, Anna Bolena, Rusalka, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte.

Judging from her roles she is primarily a lyric soprano, even though Anna Bolena requires a spinto voice and Norma definitely a dramatic voice. Since her role in Don Giovanni has been Donna Anna, it seems that her aspirations are towards rather meaty parts. Judging from a recording is far from easy but my first impression was of a rather large voice with a natural vibrancy. She lacks the steely top notes of a spinto however – that may come later – and she seems most comfortable in the lyrical roles. The second stanza of Norma’s Casta Diva is sung with a great deal of restraint, which isn’t at all unbecoming. She has a good legato and the final notes are sung on a fine diminuendo. Anna Bolena’s great aria is also well sung. As Violetta in the first act of La traviata she is required to execute some rather testing florid singing and though she is no coloratura she manages Sempre libera without making unduly heavy weather of the runs.

Puccini seems better suited to her vocal equipment at the moment and she makes Mimi a vulnerable creature … which she should be. Tosca’s Vissi d’arte might be on the heavy side but this is a good reading, in spite of some unsteadiness. In Lauretta’s O mio babbino caro there were some metallic intruding sounds that I couldn’t identify, probably not emanating from the singer but from the microphones. The best singing of all comes in Liù’s Signore ascolta, where she conveys warmth as well as anxiety.

Micaela in Carmen is one of her roles on stage but here she sounds more insecure and the vibrato widens alarmingly at the climax. She draws a believable psychological portrait of the innocent girl, however. The two Gounod arias are well sung with a light and jolly Juliette in Je veux vivre. Here, though, as in a couple of other places, the reading would have gained from more intensity from the orchestra. The Sofia Symphony Orchestra play as well as the conductor allows them to but it is all a bit smoothed out.

This is a promising recital debut. With further experience I am sure Vania Vatralova-Stankov will be even more of an asset for many an opera house.

The inlay has biographical notes in Bulgarian and English but no texts or comments on the music. This is of little importance with a repertoire that most collectors will already have in numerous versions. The recording is good without being exceptional.

-- Göran Forsling, MusicWeb International