Mozart: Exsultate, Jubilate; Arias

Lenneke Ruiten (soprano), Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra/Ed Spanjaard PentaTone Classics PTC 5186 376*****

Dutch soprano Lenneke Ruiten has visited Ireland frequently in recent years, and is in fact on tour here at the moment. Her voice is one of such exceptional purity that the immediacy of her appeal is almost self-explanatory. The voice seems well-nigh ideal for an approach of classical poise in Mozart. Ruiten's easy reach up to extraordinary heights in the opening concert aria ( Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio) sets the tone for a programme in which the vocal line is always cleanly sculpted, the tone often pristinely ravishing, the sense of musical intelligence always high, and the virtuoso demands confronted head-on. The six arias are complemented by the altogether better-known, early Exsultate, jubilate, one of the most rewardingly exuberant creations ever to emerge from the imagination of a 17-year-old. See pentatonemusic.com