Sumi JO - Only Love

I was looking for a nice rendition of Wildhorn-Bricuse's Someone Like You (from Jekyll and Hyde) on youtube  and found out that Sumi Jo has a recording of the song from her album Only Love.

Sumi Jo is a Korean coloratura soprano who rose to international superstardom with her dazzling portrayal of the Queen of the Night from Mozart's Magic Flute.  There is even a video where Sumi Jo and Cecilia Bartoli audition for Maestro Herbert von Karajan.

What's astounding about Sumi Jo's rendition is that her classical training is very apparent.  You do not only hear the talent, but also the technique in her interpretation.  She sings as if the voice is part of the orchestra, if you can actually do that with the human voice, and as if she is the conductor, shaping the sound of a whole ensemble inside her voice.  I find most broadway singers belting the songs when they perform, singing boldly, soulfully, but not in the right amounts.  TELENOVELIC.

Sumi Jo's employment of vocal and tonal colors in the recording is limitless: she can summon the deepest of emotions with a wide, big, broad, open sound, and the subtlest of turns and phrasing with a strong breath technique holding the voice back in a gradual and painful decrescendo.  The result is a very affective and effective marriage between text and music, music and performer, performer and listener.

---