IN RECORDING
The Russian Album
Opera News, March 2007
We have marveled at the dusky hues and technical prowess this young superstar-in-the-making brings to Italian and French repertoire long enough. Now ascendant diva Anna Netrebko applies her considerable artistry to arias and songs in her native language, with, as ever, beguiling results. It's tempting to talk about the voice itself; the first comparisons that come to mind are the young Mirella Freni (for shimmering top and vocal poise) and the young Anna Moffo (for the dark, inviting timbre of the middle voice). It's also tempting to talk about the technique, because I can't recall a more even portamento or messa di voce in a soprano of Netrebko's generation. Netrebko's own recent cavils about occasionally singing sharp are not needed here. Her focused vibrato can become a little more excited on the northern side of the pitch when she is singing in the upper reaches of her voice; to my ear, the effect is one of lively effervescence.
What Netrebko's singing evokes is heartfelt, youthful emotion that registers as vulnerability. One of her most beguiling qualities is the shimmer she achieves in her upper passaggio, causing a goose-flesh response of the variety I savored in Kiri Te Kanawa's performances. Netrebko has something more, however - the possibility of some thrust at the top of her range, especially around high A and B, and a sexually thrilling depth in the lower part of her voice. All of this is exploited to great effect in this program of her native repertoire.
The girlish lilt is there when Netrebko enthuses about berry-picking as Rimsky-Korsakov's Snow Maiden. Though her "yodels" on "A…oh!" are almost too perfect to be perceived as such, this would be a marvelous role to hear the soprano sing before her voice acquires too much heft. The divine spark is there at the Swanbird's first perfectly placed entrance on high G, in The Tale of Tsar Saltan. And the soprano's more serious side, as well as a fine balance of chiaroscuro, is on display in Tatiana's letter scene from Eugene Onegin (another role to look forward to), as elsewhere. Some of Netrebko's darkest, most wrenching hues are on offer in a stunning rendition of Rachmaninoff's "Oh sing me not the sad songs of Georgia," a setting of a Pushkin text. The musicality of her melismas in this song demonstrates the very high level of her achievement as an artist. Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra give the soprano steady, often beautiful support.
Unlike most starry aria discs, Anna Netrebko's "Russian Album" emphasizes atmosphere over glitter. There's something bold in the inclusion, early on, of two melancholy Rachmaninoff songs. Netrebko may be a gorgeous media star, but the 35-year-old Russian soprano is also an inspired, immediately captivating vocal artist. Her way with Rachmaninoff's lyrical "It Is Beautiful Here" will the make hardest heads swoon; she floats the sighing high notes rapturously but with a vulnerable, deeply human sound.
Netrebko's previous recital discs featured her in mostly Italian arias, as well as Mozart. This album, by far her best yet, showcases Netrebko in her native repertoire, and the Russian material boasts melodies to rival any Italian collection. An aria from Rimsky-Korsakov's rarely heard "Tale of Tsar Saltan" is almost criminally ravishing. And Netrebko benefits from ideal partners – conductor Valery Gergiev and the house orchestra where she got her start, that of St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre. They give the waltz tunes from Prokofiev's "War and Peace" an intoxicating swirl.
When Netrebko competes on ground trod by the most famous singers, her naturalness wins out. In the Letter Scene from Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin," Netrebko doesn't sound like a fruity international diva; she sounds like the genuine article, a love-struck Russian girl. It's only January, but this disc will end up one of the year's best.
New Jersey Star-Ledger
It wasn't so long ago that Russian opera, beyond a few acknowledged masterpieces by Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky, was virtually an unknown quantity in the wider world of music. If the conductor Valery Gergiev has played a huge role in changing that, a glamorous star soprano like Anna Netrebko can potentially do even more – and her Russian Album ought to make more than a few new converts to the cause. Partnering here with Gergiev and the orchestra of St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre, Netrebko has put together a program of entrancing arias and songs by five of Russia's greatest composers. With only one well-known selection, the "Letter Scene" from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, it's also a rather daring program: Netrebko asks us to follow her into unfamiliar territory, but it's a journey that few listeners could refuse. The unfettered lyricism of Rimsky-Korsakov's operas gets special attention, with scenes from The Snow Maiden, The Tsar's Bride, and The Tale of Tsar Saltan, allowing Netrebko's voice to soar radiantly over the Mariinsky orchestra. She also looks back to the origins of Russian opera with Glinka's A Life for the Tsar and forward to the 20th century with Prokofiev's War and Peace – from which the role of Natasha has counted among her most important successes on stage. But it may be the Romantic melancholy of Rachmaninov that suits Netrebko's voice most fully, both in a scene from his seldom-heard opera Francesca da Rimini and in orchestral versions of two haunting songs. As for Tchaikovsky's famous "Letter Scene," Netrebko sustains an intensity of emotion here that more than measures up to the beauty of her singing, making it a perfect capstone to her exploration – with luck, just the first of many – of her nation's uniquely splendid music.
Scott Paulin for Barnes & Noble, www.bn.com
Opernwelt, November 2006 (Gerhard Persché)
Netrebko [ist] wie dunkles Gold auf rotem Samt.
"Anna Netrebko formuliert beredt, faltet die Phrasen dramatisch auf, mit leuchtendem Ton, ohne das Sul-fiato-Singen und die flüssige Phrasierung zu verlieren. In ihrer Muttersprache stimmt auch das Wort-Ton-Verhältnis, ist nicht zugunsten des Klangs verschoben ... Den Höhepunkt des Recitals bildet die Briefszene aus 'Eugen Onegin', in der die Netrebko neben dem Schwärmerischen des jungen Mãdchens bereits die Souveränität der späteren Fürstin ausspielt."
Codex Flores, 03.11.2006 (Wolfgang Böhler)
Anna Netrebko's «Russian Album»
In den letzten Jahren hat Anna Netrebko, der neue Publikumsliebling unter den Sopranistinnen, sich weit über die exklusive Gesellschaft der Opernliebhaber einen Namen gemacht – dank der Bereitschaft, in Fussballstadien auch populäre Programme zu absolvieren und in Fernsehshows ein dankbares, ansonsten eher klassikfernes Publikum zu bedienen. Damit hat sie bewiesen, dass sie nicht nur mit einer hervorragenden Stimme begabt ist, sondern auch über ein weiteres, im globalen Musikgeschäft unabdingbares Talent verfügt: Unter grossen Belastungen kontinuierlich Spitzenleistungen zu erbringen und dabei die eigene natürliche Ausstrahlung und künstlerische Glaubwürdigkeit nicht zu kompromittieren.
Durch den ungewöhnlichen Ruhm lässt sie sich tatsächlich nicht zu Unvorsichtigkeiten verlocken: Ein für März dieses Jahres geplantes Rezital in der renommierten New Yorker Carnegie Hall hat sie abgesagt, weil sie sich für diese Art des anspruchsvollen Solokonzertes noch nicht sicher genug fühlte. Aber auch mit dem «russischen Album», das sie nun vorlegt, beweist sie Charakter. Sie rückt dabei – was mit dem Seitenblick auf den kommerziellen Erfolg auf der Hand gelegen wäre – nicht ihre Stimmkraft und expressive Agilität ins Licht, sondern bricht eine Lanze für ein Repertoire, das für ein westeuropäisches Publikum noch einiges an Entdeckungen mit sich bringen dürfte.
Das Album ist ein wunderbar feines, melancholisches und unprätentiöses Rezital mit Liedern und Arien, von denen einige überhaupt noch nie eingespielt worden sind. Es bringt in der Originalsprache Russisch, der Muttersprache der Sängerin, Ausschnitte aus den Opern «Iolanta» und «Eugene Onegin» von Tschaikowsky, «Das Märchen vom Zaren Saltan», «Die Zarenbraut», «Schneeflöckchen» von Rimsky-Korsakow, «Francesca da Rimini» von Rachmaninow und «Ein Leben für den Zaren» von Glinka, aber auch Lieder von Rachmaninow und Tschaikowsky sowie einen Ausschnitt aus Prokofiews Oper «Krieg und Frieden», mit der die Sängerin 2000 als Natascha an der Met debütiert hat. Die Rolle scheint ihr auf den Leib geschrieben.
Ort und Mitwirkende des «russischen Albums» könnten authentischer nicht sein. Zur Seite stehen Anna Netrebko ihr Mentor Valery Gergiev als Dirigent und der Chor und das Orchester des St. Petersburger Mariinski-Theaters, sowie in einzelnen sekundierenden Partien Zlata Bulycheva (Mezzosopran), Dmitry Voropaev (Tenor), Alexander Morozov (Bassbariton) und Ilya Bannik (Bass). Das Mariinski Theater diente zwischen Dezember 2005 und Juni 2006 auch als Aufnahmeort.
Das Klangbild der CD wirkt trotz der teils opulenten Orchesterpartien beinahe intim und kammermusikalisch. Ein Grund dafür dürfte sicherlich die Tatsache sein, dass die Stimme der Sopranistin keineswegs in den Vordergrund gerückt ist, sondern mit den Instrumentalklängen zu einer Einheit verschmilzt und zum Teil fast aus der Ferne zu kommen scheint.
The Mozart Album
"Die Netrebko singt die wutspeiende, von Koloraturkonvulsionen geschüttelte Rache-Vision der Elettra aus "Idomeno" mit einer harten, klaren Wucht und einem strahlenden Feuer, dass man sich schon auf dieses Rollendebüt auf der Bühne freuen mag."
Manuel Brug, Die Welt, 19 August 2006
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Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon
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La traviata and Violetta
"Carlo Rizzi has recorded a historic Traviata, live from this past year's Salzburg Festival. It surpasses its great predecessors, even such popular favourites as Riccardo Muti's 1982 recording with Renata Scotto and the several sets featuring Callas ... The young Anna Netrebko is an absolutely divine Violetta, Rolando Villazón is a passionate Alfredo and Thomas Hampson is deeply moving as his father. Anna Netrebko combines beauty and fragility, and indeed it is this fusion that, on sheer aesthetic grounds, could consign to oblivion some divas of the preceding century; Netrebko possesses a delicious vocal elegance to compare with the greatest sopranos of the past.."
AudioVideo, January 2006
"Anna Netrebko is surely the central element. Underneath all the charm she boasts a flawless and refined vocal technique, with a sumptuous, velvety timbre. Though one might worry about it a bit while watching her passionate engagement as an actress, her singing in fact doesn't suffer at all at the demands of the drama ... Her Violetta, youthful and vocally in peak condition, is much more crushed by fate than eaten away by internal illness, conforming to the role in this conception of the drama ... Rolando Villazón ... offers ... a perfect incarnation of his character in all its hot-tempered youthfulness, a bit wild and inexperienced, and the beauty of his timbre and his astounding facility are irresistible ... Thomas Hampson ... triumphs with commitment and vehemence ... the orchestra is superb ... as are the chorus and the engineering. Though one might want to wait for the DVD, the volcanic Traviata recording we have here will assume an honoured place on our shelves."
Opéra Magazine, December 2005
Salzburg's tremendous Traviata:
"With superb intonation ... [Anna Netrebko] shows herself her to be fully in command of the bravura aria "È strano"... The special quality of her Violetta, however, lies in her intense sense of drama, with full-toned vocalism, but above all in her shaping of the lyrical passages, crowned with magnificent soft singing and gleaming top notes, which with her exemplary legato she turns into high points of the recording. Netrebko's warm and refulgently dazzling timbre is breathtakingly beautiful and, especially in the endless spun-out phrases, utterly captivating. ... a fascinating and superbly presented production ..."
Das Opernglas (Hamburg), 1 January 2006
"Vocally imposing ... Netrebko has a glorious voice, even through a large range, flexible enough for the Act 1 pyrotechnics and warm enough for the tragic happenings thereafter. She also appears to have been extraordinarily effective in the large spaces of the Grosses Festspielhaus, not everyone's favourite place to sing ... Villazón offers an impassioned, wholly credible Alfredo ... Hampson, as Germont, is musical and expressive."
Gramophone, 1 December 2005
"The hottest ticket of this summer's festival ... Verdi's irresistible tear-jerker is the first new recording in more than 10 years ... this is the version to get: another major step forward for both Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón, two young soloists approaching the height of their powers. With a strong supporting cast led by the likes of Thomas Hampson, this thrilling version caputures two wonderful virtuosi of just the right age singing their hearts out and breaking yours."
The Observer, 13 November 2005
"Taken from Willy Decker's 2005 Salzburg Festival production, this recording of 'La traviata' is the finest recent account by far ... (Anna Netrebko's) singing of Acts II and III is heartbreaking and her blend with her co-prinicipals is superb. Thomas Hampson's cultured, grave Germont is wonderful, while Rolando Villazón's Alfredo is intelligent and radiantly sung."
Independent on Sunday (London), 13 November 2005
"This stunning new Traviata, fresh from the stage of the Salzburg Festival last summer (2005), is a performance to live with. Netrebko's Violetta is significant. Here she seems to have it all. Her charisma comes through even on disc; the voice is gorgeous. There are no complaints to be made about the Alfredo of Rolando Villazon. He is being compared favorably with Domingo, but I will go further: Domingo was (is) a remarkable singer and musician, but we do not remember him for his great ideas about a role as we do, say, Jon Vickers. Villazon has ideas, and furthermore, his voice is both more pliable and more colorful than Domingo's. Netrebko's Violetta and Villazon's Alfredo are extraordinary and can stand up to the best.
ClassicsToday.com, 1 December 2005
Opera News, January 2006: View review.
The Times (London), November 2005: Read review.
Kleine Zeitung, 23 October 2005: View review.
Sempre Libera
EDITOR'S CHOICE
Opera News, October 2004
The Diva Is In
Anna Netrebko's second disc of opera arias confirms her status as a superstar in the making.
By Joanne Sydney Lessner
It's impossible to imagine a soprano with more going for her than Anna Netrebko. Her rapid ascent to superstardom has been fueled by the confluence of her movie-starlet looks, her arresting stage presence and the romantic story of her humble beginnings, scrubbing floors at St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theater. Still, the Cinderella backstory would count for nothing if Netrebko couldn't deliver the goods vocally, which she does with an expansive, glamorous lyric coloratura. This release follows on the heels of her best-selling debut disc, Opera Arias, and plants Netrebko on bel canto terra firma, with the soprano calling cards from La Traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Sonnambula and I Puritani. But this new disc is not just an excuse to put Netrebko's fabulous features on the cover of another package of familiar repertoire; Sempre Libera is the announcement of a true diva.
Netrebko is a vocal chameleon, possessing a wider range of colors than many sopranos in this repertoire. The role of Violetta, often cited for its wide-ranging (one might say schizophrenic) vocal demands, appears to be tailor-made for her. Here, we are treated to "Ah, fors'è lui.... Sempre libera," which she builds from introspection to an increasingly desperate assertion of her free will. Netrebko has one of the most beautiful high Cs around, and her coloratura is both accurate and expressive. The entire thing is shot through with real sensuality, and the light reediness of Saimir Pirgu's tenor accentuates the tragic contrast between a voluptuous woman of the world and a kid who lacks the courage of his convictions.
As Bellini's sleepwalking Amina, Netrebko spins out a sound both sumptuous and innocent in "Ah! Se una volta sola." She then allows a touch of Russian darkness to lend pathos to the bad-dream cavatina, "Ah, non credea mirarti," without suddenly sounding like a different character. Her awakening, "Ah, non giunge," introduces yet a third color, one of silvery sunlight breaking through a thundercloud, with a thrilling E-flat over the chorus. In the Act II sequence from I Puritani, Netrebko adds a bit of weight to her voice, which nicely accentuates Elvira's melancholy, but her fioritura sounds a bit more effortful as a result. (She also suddenly sounds like she's singing in a faraway shower at the top of "O rendetemi le speme.") She is back on surer ground in Lucia's mad scene, where her runs are fleet, her turns of phrase liquid, her staccatos pure and brilliant. Her "Ardon gl'incensi" radiates divine rapture.
The luxuriant, modal winds that presage the calm before Desdemona's final storm immediately establish a different mood, and Netrebko delivers another convincing characterization. Without the demands of high notes and runs, Netrebko is free to indulge the opulence of her middle and lower registers, and her superb control here is even more impressive. Her faraway call of "Salce, salce" is meltingly sad and lovely, and the shimmer that tops her phrases suggests a Desdemona not completely resigned to her fate. "Ave Maria" quivers with fear and hope, and the entire scene, aided by Sara Mingardo's inky mezzo as Emilia, creates a spellbinding mood of intimacy and vulnerability. Puccini's ubiquitous "O mio babbino caro," which serves as an encore, is the least satisfying cut on the disc. Although she imbues it with the appropriate yearning, Netrebko-lite is a bit of a letdown after the powerhouse pieces that come before.
The Mahler Chamber Orchestra, under Claudio Abbado, plays with idiomatic sensitivity, although some passages are too rhythmically amorphous, even for bel canto repertoire. The winds are particularly soulful in the Otello sequence, and Abbado's leadership throughout is supportive and graceful. Bass-baritone Nicola Ulivieri and bass Andrea Concetti deserve a mention for solid contributions in the Puritani and Lucia selections.
One could nitpick that Netrebko's Italian isn't always so polished as it might be, or that one or two notes veer north of the pitch. On the other hand, it's nice to be reminded that she is human, since so much about this artist is extraordinary.
The New Yorker, 27 September 2004
Vital new recording of bel canto.
By Alex Ross
The gorgeous Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, who recently released a recital disk entitled "Sempre Libera," on Deutsche Grammophon, is in the process of entering that rarefied élite known as the Yo-Yo Club. Yo-Yos are classical musicians who have escaped from the relative anonymity that even such august talents as Gidon Kremer and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson inhabit; they have touched true-blue American celebrity, appearing on network TV, in glossy magazines, even in the movies. Netrebko, who is thirty-three, first reached international audiences as part of Valery Gergiev's stable of Russian singers, then moved on to the deluxe circuit of the Salzburg Festival, Covent Garden, and the Metropolitan Opera, where she captivated audiences in Prokofiev's "War and Peace" in 2002. This year, she went so far as to appear in the movie "Princess Diaries 2," singing "Sempre Libera" from "La Traviata."
Whenever a performer joins the Yo-Yo Club, a certain brand of connoisseur automatically questions the seriousness of his or her artistry. The move from excited murmuring to skeptical muttering has happened amazingly fast in Netrebko's case: critics have already accused her of subjugating her talent to D.G.'s marketing strategies, which, by modern big-media standards, are meek in the extreme. Do a few come-hither poses or would-be MTV videos really diminish a singer's artistry? Or do they diminish a critic's ability to judge her on vocal merits alone? To my ears, Netrebko has lost none of the radiance that she displayed in her first appearances. If anything, her voice is more lustrous and more substantial than before-the lower range darker and richer, the high notes brilliant if not totally secure, the legato phrases luxuriously long.
The repertory on the new D.G. disk is ambitious. Netrebko rides deep into the heart of Callas territory, singing the Act I scena from "Traviata," the mad scenes from "Lucia di Lammermoor" and "I Puritani," and the climactic sleepwalking scene from "La Sonnambula." She also sings the Willow Song and the Ave Maria from "Otello" and "O mio babbino caro," from "Gianni Schicchi," which are Renée Fleming signature pieces-a shot across the bow of the reigning "beautiful voice." Netrebko creates no psychological drama of the Callas variety, nor does she plot her way intelligently through each phrase, as Fleming lately has done. Instead, she sails through the music without apparent effort, navigating these arias as if they were a calm Aegean bay. What depths there are come from Claudio Abbado, conducting the Mahler Chamber Orchestra; few recitals have an accompaniment so voluptuously nuanced. Until Netrebko becomes a recurring character on "CSI: Salzburg," I'd say that she deserves the hype she has received.
New York Times, 19 September 2004
Anna Netrebko, at the Top but Still Rising
By Anthony Tommasini
When the Russian soprano Anna Netrebko entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory, she earned money washing floors in the lobby of the Maryinsky Theater. Before long she made her debut with the company as Susanna in Mozart's "Nozze di Figaro," with a year left in her schooling.
Now 32, she has had as quick a rise to the top as any singer in recent memory. Last season was particularly significant, with acclaimed portrayals of Violetta in Verdi's "Traviata" in Munich and San Francisco, and her debut solo recording for Deutsche Grammophon. You can tell how admired she has become by the eminent company she keeps in her new recording, "Sempre Libera," a program of mostly coloratura arias conducted by Claudio Abbado, no less, with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
Ms. Netrebko has been called the Russian Callas. Though I understand the comparison, I don't completely agree. Her voice is meltingly beautiful, with its creamy legato and luminous sound, tinged by a plaintive quality that never disappears, even in cheerful music. But she is a clear-headed musician, temperamentally cooler than Callas.
Her simple, vocally honest and sensitively phrased approach to Amina's sleepwalking aria from Bellini's "Sonnambula" is the more moving for its restraint. And Mr. Abbado's work here is revelatory. The tempo in the initial recitative, while essentially slow, is much fleeter than usual. Clearly Mr. Abbado does not sanction dawdling and vocal indulgence in the bel canto repertory.
Together, he and Ms. Netrebko make the phrases of Violetta's demanding Act I scene expand in the most natural way without letting the lyrical line lose its tension. Ms. Netrebko's nimble singing of "Sempre Libera" is capped by a solid high E flat.
The mad scene from Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor," besides being handsomely sung, is notable for Mr. Abbado's decision to replace the conventional solo flute with a glass harmonica, the instrument Donizetti originally called for. Its gentle, hazy sounds, popular in the 19th century, lend an affecting fragility to Lucia's emotional breakdown.
The excerpts from Bellini's "Puritani" are also exquisite. And for this recording Mr. Abbado persuaded Ms. Netrebko to sing Desdemona's "Willow Song" and "Ave Maria" from Verdi's "Otello," vocally weightier repertory, which she has avoided until now. Her performance is disarming. A hint of things to come?
South Florida Sun-Sentinel,
17 December 2004
By Lawrence A. Johnson
From her appearances on "60 Minutes" to MTV-style music videos, the PR push for Anna Netrebko is on. Like other slickly marketed classical ingénues, the Russian soprano is a striking and glamorous beauty. As shown on her DG debut disc, she also possesses a genuinely magnificent voice. This disc of Italian arias and scenes showcases Netrebko's high-gloss vocalism superbly.
In the opening Traviata arias, the singer displays graceful agility, with rich tone and gleaming high notes in Sempre Libera. At times, as in the Sonnambula items, there is a Sutherland-like tendency to glide over consonants, yet Netrebko floats Amina's music with delicate sensitivity. Her impassioned rendering of Lucia's mad scene is dramatic and beautifully sung, and benefits greatly from the original scoring with its eerie, unearthly glass harmonica. As Desdemona, Netrebko is at her finest, conveying the rising tension and foreboding of the "Willow Song" and a heartbreaking "Ave Maria." We're pulled back from the brink for a resplendent encore of "O mio babbino caro," this decade's "Nessun Dorma."
Having Claudio Abbado on hand is a great benefit, with the Italian conductor drawing vitalized choral singing and brilliant playing from the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. The recording is demo-quality with the wide dynamic range lending great impact.
Opera Arias
EDITOR'S CHOICE
Opera News
"THE REAL DEAL: Anna Netrebko's new CD is a triumphantly Fach-defying mix of chestnuts and rarities."
"At first I mistook Anna Netrebko's photo-stuffed press packet for a fashion magazine. The spectacular singing, however, took the edge off my instinctive fear of sopranos on furry rugs. The promo disc starts out with Musetta's waltz, normally not a piece to make anyone drop the coffeepot and stare open-mouthed at the stereo. Netrebko, however, with a major-league voice and a full-sized musical temperament to power it, makes this old favorite sound brand new. With a deliberate, unhurried tempo, the soprano pours out her dark, deluxe sound with confidence in the big musical gesture. (The commercial CD, with liner notes by Opera News features editor Brian Kellow, takes a roughly chronological route through the repertoire, placing this aria at the end of the program, but listeners – having put down any breakable objects – may opt to jump-start their acquaintance with a future superstar right here.)
"The entire recital bears the mark of an old-fashioned diva, with a Fach-defying mix of chestnuts and rarities, material the young Netrebko already has honed on stage. She applies her larger-than-life vocalism, dramatic sureness and finely detailed phrasing to just nine arias, but each one seems to undergo a personal spa treatment, resulting in a succession of gorgeous richly finished, gleaming jewels.
"Right off the bat, Netrebko turns the extended recitative before "Padre, germani, addio" (from Mozart's Idomeneo), consisting mostly of plot orientation and character background, into a commanding, revelatory piece of vocal acting. This scene, as well as Donna Anna's "Non mi dir" (from Mozart's Don Giovanni), is colored with a pervasive sadness, informing and shaping the resolve of both characters. As in "Quando me'n vo'," Netrebko's tempos are unexpected – she takes her time confidently with both the larghetto ("Non mi dir") and the allegro moderato ("Forse, forse un giorno"); in both sections the figuration is treated as a natural development of the musical line.
"The bel canto repertoire would seem another obvious choice for this soprano. In both "Regnava nel silenzio," from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor (she brings her seasoned Lucia to Los Angeles Opera this month), and the final scene from Bellini's La Sonnambula, the limpid, almost conversational phrasing of the cavatinas gives way to fearless singing in the florid cabalettas. Again the tempos are unhurried; obviously, maintaining that fascinating, creamy color and spacious resonance in coloratura passages takes some work. But only in the final phrases of the Bellini cabaletta is the effort really evident: Netrebko keeps up with conductor Gianandrea Noseda's fleet tempo by sheer determination.
"The glamour and beauty of Netrebko's voice are also apt to distract the listener from another minor shortcoming, in the language department: her French vowels are not quite right, and the consonants have yet to assume real character. This is surely correctable, though, as Netrebko does show a real affinity for French repertoire. She gets Berlioz's Classical-Romantic mix just right in Teresa's aria from the rarely-staged Benvenuto Cellini (which the soprano has sung in a concert version with Valery Gergiev), with clean sound and rhythmic precision coupled with dramatic thrust in the phrasing. The whole piece is then capped with an authoritative delivery of the composer's unpredictable, Italian-style cadenza.
"The jewel song from Gounod's Faust is stunning, a throwback to diva days when this was a showstopping party song. Netrebko's compelling self-confidence and her inescapable musical and theatrical sophistication are almost too much for the naïve Marguerite, but these same qualities work to her advantage in the scene and gavotte from Massenet's Manon. Netrebko parades her vocal and personal charms in front of the chorus of the Vienna Staatsoper, showing off two gleaming high Ds to boot.
"Netrebko has a real flair for bringing a new slant and an often-surprising freshness to pieces we've heard time and again. Instead of cooing indulgently through Rusalka's song to the moon, Netrebko seems to sculpt each phrase anew, as if improvising. Here the Vienna Philharmonic, impeccable throughout the disc, comes to the fore, reveling in the colorful orchestration.
"I find it tantalizing that Netrebko has left out the Russian works that first brought her to the public eye. (Anyway, she already has recorded Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila, Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges and his Betrothal in a Monastery.) Instead, she has opted for an attractively old-fashioned recital, eclectic, generous and personal. Could this predict old-fashioned stardom (along the lines of Milanov, Sutherland and Caballe) for Anna Netrebko? I hope so."
Judith Malafronte, Opera News, November 2003
"A Soprano Whose Voice And Charm Really Carry"
"Anyone fortunate enough to have heard Russian soprano Anna Netrebko in her recent Washington Opera appearances will know what to expect from Opera Arias, her first recital CD under a new contract with Deutsche Grammophon. The disc – featuring vibrant, singer-sensitive support from the Vienna Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda's baton, and engineering that places us front-row center – is a splendid showcase for this artist's rare gifts.
"Netrebko's voice, which has shone with charismatic luster in stage performances, seems even more a thing of wonder under the scrutiny of the studio microphones. It almost sounds, at times, like a voice composed of light: the twilight shading in the lower register, the burnished late-afternoon glow radiating from the middle voice, the silvery halo wreathing the upper range, the top notes that land like shafts of pure sunlight. Hers is an instrument that quite literally illuminates any music she chooses to sing.
"With its poise, agility and warmth, it's a voice tailor-made for Mozart. Ilia's aria 'Padre, germani, addio,' from Idomeneo, and Donna Anna's Non mi dir, from 'Don Giovanni,' are sung with such shapely phrasing, ideal vocal placement and limpid beauty that one almost wishes this were an all-Mozart recital. But then, of course, we'd be denied an enchanting reading of 'The Song to the Moon,' from Dvořák's Rusalka, and a surprisingly rich and full-voiced 'Musetta's Waltz,' from Puccini's La Boheme.
"Happily, Netrebko is not the sort of singer who'll coast through an opera on a cloud of seductive tone without engaging the drama. As onstage, this recital shows her to be a nuanced vocal actress. The rapidly cycling emotions in the 'Idomeneo' aria are rendered with a palpable sense of urgency. Ditto 'Regnava nel silenzio,' from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. Beyond possessing the ideal 'Lucia' voice – one melding girlishness and tragic weight – Netrebko creates a vivid portrait of a haunted, high-strung woman out of her emotional depth. (Her recent studies with Renata Scotto, a legendary Lucia and one of the finer vocal actresses of the last generation, have clearly paid off.) Perhaps 'The Jewel Song,' from Gounod's Faust, lacks the smile in the voice implied by the text – her timbre more readily suggests wistfulness than giddiness – but laughter is there, naturally and endearingly, in the recitative, and she infuses the aria with an affecting mix of adolescent confidence and romantic longing.
"Nitpickers will wish that Netrebko's trill were more robust, or dwell on the one phrase in fifty that's either hastily prepared or overly cautious. The rest of us will delight in her command of legato line, her elegant French – as in a wonderfully sung 'Cours-la-Reine' scene from Massenet's Manon, where it sounds as if she finds the very language delicious in her mouth – and a voice that's arguably the most meltingly lovely on the operatic stage today.
"If there's a genuine drawback to this recording, it's the audio-only nature of CDs, which gives us an incomplete experience of this soprano's artistry. More than most singers, Netrebko is a complete performer whose magnetic acting, dancer's grace and stunning looks contribute as powerfully to her operatic portrayals as does her voice.
"But don't let that stop you from buying the CD for that voice alone. Just be forewarned: Netrebko can be habit-forming."
Joe Banno, The Washington Post, 12 October 2003
"This debut aria disc by the young Russian soprano, who was seen here in the Opera Company of Philadelphia's I Capuleti e i Montecchi, confirms all the promise of her stage performances. Unlike so many singers who have come out of the Kirov Opera, Netrebko has a voice built for the long run. Her voice has ... a richness of tone that's unusual among those who have the vocal agility to sing Lucia di Lammermoor. [T]he potential heard throughout this disc of Mozart, Massenet, Bellini and Dvořák is staggering."
The Philadelphia Sunday Inquirer
Gramophone Magazine's Editor's Choice:
"A Rising Star shows off her fine voice: Though in the past five or six years Anna Netrebko has become one of the most admired of young lyric sopranos the world over, she will always for me (I suspect) be first and foremost the enchanting Lyudmila of the 1995 Maryinsky/San Francisco production of Glinka's opera, happily preserved on DVD and irradiated by this pure, clear voice, winning in style and manner, masterful beyond her years (she was only 23) in technique. So this first solo recital disc comes not before time and is most welcome. Certainly she has made a good selection. Everything suits the voice, including Donna Anna's 'Non mi dir.' In Bellini and Donizetti she shows the primary strength of drawing a firm, even melodic line, and when she rises above the stave it is without that tendency to hardening and shrillness which has so often beset Italian sopranos. In the French repertory the free, glistening high notes are a great asset to her Manon (particularly the chosen excerpt), and the Benvenuto Cellini aria is a joy, not only in her performance but simply to find there. [H]ere is one of the best of the younger generation, faithfully recorded and notably well accompanied by the VPO under Noseda."
Gramophone Magazine, November 2003
"Stop, look, listen for Netrebko"
"Practice saying this name, because it will be on everyone's lips – everyone who loves opera, that is. The young Russian soprano Anna Netrebko has been singing Mozart's Susanna, Zerlina and other light roles at many of the world's opera houses. Her first recital disc shows that her voice has ripened beautifully and that she has the temperament – and the technique – for more demanding stuff. Two words: Look out.
"Her story is a publicist's dream. She was discovered in 1995 by conductor Valery Gergiev, who found her scrubbing the floors of the Marynski Theater to pay for lessons at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He has looked after her ever since, introducing her at the Mariinski, where she has become a house star, and the Met, where she sang Natasha in the 2002 production of Prokofiev's War and Peace.
"In this Deutsche Gramophon recording, we get a mix of demanding arias in Italian and French. The long recitative to Ilia's aria in Idomeneo is subtle and deeply felt. We meet her warm middle voice, clear line and sensitivity to words (without the old Russian tendency to swallow vowels).
"'Non mi dir' from Mozart's Don Giovanni fits her voice perfectly. Few sopranos sing equally well both the lyrical body of the aria and the concluding fireworks. Netrebko might prove that rare thing, a dramatic soprano 'd'agilita,' a kind of voice we haven't had since Maria Callas. Her Musetta is daunting – better, you think, not to be caught admiring her 'head to toe.' But she takes by storm the arias from La Sonnambula and Lucia de Lammermoor, capping them with easy Ds and E-flats. There's no Verdi, but you can hear a great Verdi soprano ahead. And perhaps, someday, a Norma.
"Netrebko is 31, when a soprano really hits her stride. This will be fun to watch."
David Perkins, News & Observer (Raleigh, NC), 21 September 2003
"A breath of fresh air, this recital ... [T]his is the best debut disc for a long time. Netrebko's voice is a brilliant lyric soprano extending comfortably to the D or E-flat above the stave, evenly produced, and with a lambent timbre that does not grow dim in mezza voce. She commands a good trill and a more than adequate fluency in coloratura. More important, she has temperament, evident musical sensibility and the instincts of a communicator. [T]he music is delivered with rare grace. The high spirits she brings to Manon's Cours-la-Reine scene are irresistible, as is the imagination evident in the hooded tone in which she sings the repeat of 'Profitons bien de la jeunesse.' As Teresa she manages the high-lying phrases of 'Entre l'amour et le devoir' with skill, and the repetitions demanded by Berlioz are intelligently varied. In 'Non mid dir' the emphasis is on Donna Anna's vulnerability ..., and the disc closes with Rusalk's 'Song to the Moon,' sung with a sure rhythmic sense (very hard, in this piece) and captivating simplicity. The same treatment delivers the good in Musetta's 'Quando m'en vo:' no histrionics, no girlish shrieks, just fine singing. Nothing could be sexier!"
Richard Law, Opera, November 2003
"In other recording news, we have new recital discs from the Russian soprano Anna Netrebko and the Czech mezzo Magdalena Kozená, charmers with whom opera lovers in this country will wish to become better acquainted. On tour with the Kirov Opera and in the Metropolitan Opera production of Prokofiev's epic War and Peace, the winsome Ms. Netrebko has already made several sterling impressions. (Her Met Natasha put movie fans in mind of Audrey Hepburn, with a voice.) Anna Netrebko: Opera Arias, her debut album for Deutsche Grammophon, spans repertoire from Mozart to Puccini by way of Bellini and Gounod, with Dvořák the lone Slav.
"Ms. Netrebko likes to say that she needs characters 'with a little danger.' Or a lot. Don't be fooled by the china-doll appearance. Gauge her rather by her timbre, with its undercurrents of willful sensuality. Though the voice has weight and richness, she projects with the arching purity more characteristic of much airier sopranos. Her gifts combine especially beautifully in an excerpt from the rarely performed Benvenuto Cellini of Berlioz. Another standout is the heroine's opening scene from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, in which Ms. Netrebko shortly makes her Los Angeles Opera debut (Nov. 22 to Dec. 20). Stand by for news of a coronation."
Wall Street Journal, 21 October 2003
"Though Russian-born, Anna Netrebko is another artist that we in San Francisco can justifiably call our own. She made her U.S. debut, after all, in the Opera's wonderful 1995 production of Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila, wowing everyone at 23, and went on to a glamorous stint as an Adler Fellow, including what was probably the most remarkable recital in the history of the Schwabacher Debut Recitals series.
"This debut recital disc is in most ways a perfect showcase for her talents. It shines a spotlight on her extravagant and multifold musical gifts, in particular her distinctive vocal tone, with its combination of silvery Italianate lightness and throaty Russian colors. Her sparkling command of coloratura comes through vividly, as do her crystalline diction and easy rhythmic control."
Joshua Kosman, The San Francisco Chronicle, 5 October 2003
"Anna Netrebko is one of the new stars in the soprano firmament, an alumna of that great training ground for operatic talent at Valeri Gergiev's Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. Hers is a remarkable voice - full, firmly pitched, golden with an almost mezzo colouring and with ringing top notes too - and is also infused with genuine dramatic qualities. In this selection of arias, she ranges from Mozart's Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (a role that won her enthusiastic plaudits at the Salzburg Festival last year) to Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, and from Massenet's Manon to Marguerite's Jewel Song from Gounod's Faust.
"Given that there is almost a built-in frustration on discs such as these, in that character hardly has time to develop in the space of one aria, Netrebko makes such a glorious sound that you can more than tolerate veering from Dvořák to Puccini, Gounod to Bellini. Occasional interjections from the chorus provide the odd bit of context, and there is sound support from the Vienna Philharmonic."
Geoffrey Norris, The Daily Telegraph (London), 4 October 2003
"Opera star Anna Netrebko looks to have some staying power ... So darkly beautiful she could make even a Viking helmet look chic. The St. Petersburg soprano has been sopping up praise like gravy on a biscuit since she was a 20-year-old vocal student making ends meet by scrubbing floors, Cinderella-like, at the Mariinsky Theater. With her debut CD, Anna Netrebko: Opera Arias, out this month, full-on divadom is just around the corner."
W Magazine, September 2003
"Anna Netrebko is an opera director's dream, with a face and figure that's as pleasing to the eye as her voice is to the ear. And, if that were not enough, she's got charisma, too. Of course, on a recording one has only one's aural senses to go on, but something of the Russian-born soprano's magnetic personality and striking physical presence come through on this, her first solo album. Her Manon (in Massenet's eponymous opera) is not merely a coquette, for example, but a magically sensuous charmer. Her Donna Anna (in Mozart's Don Giovanni), on the other hand — recorded following triumphant performances of the role at the Salzburg Festival — is sung with touching fragility; it's a far cry from the Brünnhilde-like dramatics one often encounters in this role. For a taste of her theatrical acumen and flair, turn to 'Regnava nel silenzio' (from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor), where she darkens her tone and makes the most of the poor heroine's haunted and haunting narrative. Though this is her debut, DG has given Netrebko the royal treatment, with accompaniment by the venerable Vienna Philharmonic under conductor Gianandrea Noseda. Lighter-voiced singers like Netrebko rarely have the opportunity to achieve box office-smashing successes, but here's betting that this lyric soprano is destined for true diva-dom."
Andrew Farach-Colton, barnesandnoble.com
"This debut solo disc by the young Russian soprano who made her U.S. debut in SFO's Ruslan and Ludmila came as a big shock to me. I'm used to her soubrettish style, not terribly convincing in Italian opera. Either she's grown up or once again the War Memorial is exposed as a voice killer, because on this album of arias, accompanied by Gianandrea Noseda and the Vienna Philharmonic, Netrebko sounds as thrilling, original and enticing a singer as we'd heard here in decades. Wonder if she'll be asked back?
"Her range is astonishing, from the glitter of Manon's "Cours la Reine" to the towering high notes of Berlioz's "Benvenuto Cellini." From the sweet but not sticky Amina and Ilia, the otherworldly Rusalka, snotty Musetta and giddy Marguerite to a grave, tragic Lucia. Netrebko sings Lucia in Los Angeles in November and December, giving a recital with Donald Runnicles for San Francisco Performances on Nov. 28. I plan on being there to hear more of this exciting artist."
T. Hashimoto, San Francisco Examiner, 2 September 2003
Betrothal in a Monastery
"...Anna Netrebko soars prettily as his sweetheart, Louisa."
Sarah Bryan Miller, Opera News, July 1998
Ruslan and Lyudmila
"Let's get things completely out of proportion, in the way for which we canary-fanciers are notorious, and draw attention first to a marvelous new soprano. At least, Anna Netrebko, the Lyudmila here, is, as far as I can see, new to the Gramophone Database and, as far as I can remember, new to me. She is delightfully pure in tone, even and steady in production, highly accomplished and at ease in florid passages, ranging widely and 'taking' cleanly, expressive as well. It would no doubt be rash to call her a new Nezhdanova, but I daresay that listening in suitable company I might have risked it, at least as an observation with question-mark. ...as I say, the Lyudmila of Netrebko is outstanding."
John Steane, Gramophone, May 1997
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