Fabulous Friday: "Acerba volutta"

Today I'm giving you two performances of the Princess's show-stopping entrance aria, "Acerba volutta," from Cilea's *Adriana Lecouvreur.* First, sung by the fearless and shameless Soviet mezzo Elena Obraztsova. Her delightfully vulgar plunges into chest voice, they are truly shameless!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb4kN5Vfk8Q

And a recent performance by the Georgian mezzo Anita Rachvelishvili. I was at one of her Met performances in this role and jeez, that girl can SANG! Her singing is more tasteful than Obraztsova - - the lyrical final section has a real sweetness that Obraztsova lacks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOj6eTXXMUE