I was listening last night to two discs of relatively recent vintage:
Veronique Gens singing Mozart arias with Ivor Bolton and The Age of
Enlightenment on Virgin, and Vesselina Kasarova doing the same with Colin
Davis and the Staatskapelle Dresden on RCA.  My main purpose was to gain
some insight into how the two singers compare to one another in this
repertoire.

I had already made this comparison between Fleming and Kasarova; Kasarova
won easily.  She has a fine voice which is highly expressive.  Fleming
went about her business with the enthusiasm of shaving one's legs.

Last night, I found Gens the better singer in Mozart.  She has a
delighful and "light" voice which I favor in Mozart as long as the level
of expressiveness is high which Gens delivered very well.  Kasarova takes
a back seat to nobody concerning expressiveness, but her voice is rather
"heavy" and not conducive, to my taste, for Mozart.

Orchestral contributions are quite different as Gens is accompanied by a
period instrument orchestra, Kasarova a modern one.  Bolton does a fine
job - crisp playing and minimal eccentricities.  Davis, as is his bent in
recent years, takes things slowly.  It's fine conducting, but the pacing
might turn off some folks.

Gens has also recently recorded a disc for Virgin of Handel arias; that
recording is very good as well.  She's a singer to watch out for, although
I wouldn't place her at the apex.

Don Satz
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