The world, arguably, didn't need another complete recording of Puccini'sLa bohème(there are 84 currently available) but if opera's most charismatic couple – Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon – record it, it's worth exploring. She is lovely, as ever, creating a fragile, if willful Mimi, and he is the very picture of young, ardent love, infusing every word and note with meaning and what seems like spontaneity. If Nicole Cabell's Musetta is a bit bland then Boaz Daniel's light-voiced, energetic Marcello more than makes up for it. Bertrand de Billy leads a warm, loving reading, with the comic moments truly charming and the intimate moments very personal. One gets the feeling that there's a better performance of this opera in each of the two leads, but their fans – and there are millions - will not be able to resist this. The performance of choice remains thePavarotti/Freni/Karajanrecording.  -- Robert Levine