Anna Netrebko: Opera Arias
Here, a year after her sensational Metropolitan debut as Prokofiev’s Natasha fromWar and Peace, comes the debut solo recital album of 30-something soprano Anna Netrebko. She hails from southern Russia, and her emergence from the life of a conservatory student has a touch of theCinderellatale—the bit, that is, about being discovered by Gergiev mopping floors for the Kirov as a part-time job and making her way into the Kirov's ranks. Later she became a favorite at San Francisco Opera, trying on for size a swath of comic and dramatic roles.Opera Ariasparades Netrebko's way through a spectrum of vocal styles and characters. This mesmerizing lyric soprano engages--at times thrillingly grips--the listener with an imagination far greater than the disc's title (couldn't someone have dreamt up a less ridiculously  bland handle?), but most significantly leaves an impression that the enterprise here isn't merely aboutsinging. Netrebko's Ilia and Donna Anna are flesh-and-blood characters in real situations, as Mozart wanted them to be. The results are a bit more uneven with her bel canto heroines, where the required balance between Netrebko's emotional identification, so obviously a forte, and the musical phrasing thereof is a delicate one. Her shading of Lucia's mood swings, vocal and emotional, isn't consistently compelling. On the other hand, Netrebko uncovers gemlike facets not just in Gounod's "Jewel Song" but particularly in her stunning, passionately realized and beautifully phrased Manon (even if her trills disappoint).  A shame that samples of her Russian repertory are missing here, though Netrebko's "Song to the Moon" from Dvorak'sRusalkaconcentrates and sets a mood with enviable mastery. Netrebko's musical intelligence and theatrical savvy seem destined to ensure her a magnificent career, so it's no surprise that many fans are already clamoring for more  than the tease of an aria collection.--Thomas May