Anna
Netrebko is one of my favourite sopranos; owner of a beautifully
rich, voluptuous voice, with good acting skills and capable
of expressive, extroverted performances, which always enchant
audiences. She has it all - her artistic talent matched by
her glamorous image and striking good looks. With this background,
it is perhaps logical that her latest recorded recital,
Souvenirs,
centres on feminine glamour. This is immediately obvious
from the packaging which features carefully staged photographs
that showcase her beauty and sex appeal. Opening the CD case,
it is obvious that this is a very “girlie” affair: all pink,
with flowers and butterflies! The text of the CD booklet
is in a florid, unnecessarily elaborate style where information
about the music is sometimes lost amid the exaggerated praise.
It gives the impression that not only should this album go
unquestioned but also that one should be grateful that Netrebko
decided to create it. This is supposedly - and I quote: “her
most intimate recording ever”. With this work she is said
to be following “... in the tradition of such opera luminaries
as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Joan Sutherland and Plácido Domingo,
all of whom produced acclaimed recitals of lighter music”.
After all this, disappointment was beginning to set in and
it was with some hesitation that I sat down finally to listen
to the CD. However, as I did so, my mind began to change
in its favour. This lavish compilation suits Netrebko’s lively
personality and rich soprano tone to perfection.
Souvenirs is
pleasing, vivid and fun - sung with grace and joy. The choices
are thoughtful and a great deal of care has gone into the
performance of each piece, attempting to be faithful both
to the composer’s possible intention and the language of
the original text.
According
to Netrebko’s own words this is a recital of pieces that
are close to her heart and are often associated with a special
memory. This is obvious from the start, as her singing clearly
expresses enthusiasm, energy and mostly great warmth. We
open with a show-stopper from Kálmán’s
Die Csárdásfürstin,
complete with mountain calls and gypsy-style tunes. She does
a brilliant job. Her interpretation is full of life and passion.
One can tell that she is relishing every note. This is followed
by a very pleasant duet from Heuberger’s
Der Opernball -
one of the most enjoyable performances here. For this piece
Netrebko teams up with excellent Polish tenor, Piotr Beczala.
This duet was originally written for soprano and mezzo (in
trousers role) but Netrebko has chosen to sing it with a
male partner. The result is wonderful: their voices harmonise
beautifully and their singing is full of expressive tenderness,
love and heartfelt warmth.
Another
highlight is Netrebko’s rendition of
Meine Lippen, sie
küssen so heiss from Lehár’s
Giuditta, which is
indeed hot and sounds flirty throughout. She is perhaps a
bit patchy in Strauss’s
Cäcilie; her singing Gimenez’s
La
tarantula... is not totally convincing and in Arditi’s
Il
bacio she is a little too slow. There are however a few
especially beautiful moments in this recital. The first is
the
Barcarolle from Offenbach’s
Les Contes d’Hoffmann where
Netrebko joins forces with Latvian mezzo Elďna Garanča,
who has a truly gorgeous voice. Her beautifully clear tone
combined with the Russian’s rich vocal colour is a particular
pleasure: delicate and immensely romantic yet not sentimental.
The second beautiful moment comes with Strauss’s
Wiegenlied,
expressively tender and sweet; and the third with Lloyd Webber’s
Pie
Jesu from his
Requiem. Here Netrebko sublimely
partners boy soprano Andrew Swait who has a pure but delightfully
dark tone. The result is arguably one of the loveliest interpretations
of this piece that I have ever heard. Finally, I must mention
the two songs by Rimsky-Korsakov, which were specially orchestrated
for this project. She captialsies on the opportunity with
perfectly displayed high notes that are delicate yet powerful
but never sound distorted or strident. Her expressive, easy
and careful phrasing is present throughout but in particular
during the wonderfully lyrical
Solveig’s Song and
Dvořák’s
Songs my mother taught me - beautifully
sung. To my mind, these are her best moments in the entire
album.
Apart
from showcasing Netrebko’s fabulous voice this recording
is, I suppose, a self-indulgence. These pieces do not require
such great effort (for her) and she obviously enjoys them.
There is however another objective, which is to demonstrate
the soprano’s talent for languages. Unfortunately this is
not completely fulfilled. She
does sing in a colourful
variety of languages, including Latin, Yiddish and Andalusian
dialect, however her diction is not always clear. Her vowels
are on occasions sluggish, particularly in German and Italian.
There is little distinction between her French and Norwegian
and whether she is using Spanish or the Andalusian dialect
is unclear unless one is specifically told. On some occasions,
it was difficult to tell in which language she was singing
without following the lyrics. I cannot really comment on
Czech or Russian but, naturally enough she appears more relaxed
and within her comfort zone.
The
Prague Philharmonic Choir and the Prague Philharmonia under
the insightful, sympathetic baton of Emmanuel Villaume give
an excellent account of themselves throughout, clearly marking
the individuality of each piece. They are full of feeling,
lively or quietly delicate, as the situation demands, but
never sentimental or overwhelming the singer. They perfectly
cushion Netreko’s voice as well as that of her guests, contributing
effectively to an overall pleasing effect, which is the dominant
impression left by this recital.
Souvenirs turned out to be a colourful box of unexpected delights, effectively
showcasing Netrebko’s beautiful voice. It lacks to my mind
the elegance, quality and insight of her
Russian Album,
which is still her best to date. However, putting aside the
excessively “girlie” packaging, this recital is a light but
enjoyable and feel-good work from a singer with true star
power. Opera-lovers may feel that there is some lack of depth
or that this repertoire is not a real challenge for the soprano’s
talent. Anna Netrebko’s fans on the other hand will almost
surely run to add it to their collection.
Margarida
Mota-Bull
Anna Netrebko
(soprano) 
