Susanna Phillips lights up a trio of composers with Music of the Baroque

John Y. Lawrence, Chicago Classical Review:

“Those fortunate enough to have seen a Susanna Phillips performance will know that her artistry makes the sonic and the visual all of one piece. Her vocal characterizations are wedded to facial expressions and physical gestures to create a fully absorbing dramatic experience.

The three arias she performed from Giulio Cesare are in “da capo” form. Many singers use the second A section as an opportunity to display vocal pyrotechnics by ornamenting the original melody, but Phillips used it primarily as an opportunity to lend the text a different emotional weight than it had the first time around. In “Non disperar”, Cleopatra’s sarcastic consolation of her brother, each “chi sa?” (“who knows?”) was more mocking than the last. In “Che sento? Oh Dio!”, her first section seemed like simple pleading with the gods, but her repeat charted an extraordinary range of emotions: it began much more quietly, grew defiant by the middle, and then collapsed into pleading again and even sobbing by the end.”