"The title of Nathalie Stutzmann's new recording with Orfeo 55 - Contralto - celebrates the legacy of these great eighteenth-century singers ... In this wonderfully conceived offering, Stutzmann not only gives bravura performances of the arias that her contralto predecessors sang, but conducts the orchestra too ... Well-known music of Handel, as well as some Vivaldi rarities, are expertly performed, but the rarer musical gems by less well-known composers - Giovanni Bononcini, Antonio Caldara, Francesco Gasparini, Antonio Lotti and Nicola Porpora - are the reason to buy this recording ... What matters is Stutzmann's compelling singing and the emotional depth of her connection to the text and music, whether giving voice to triumph, love, horror or sorrow".