Russian Album

The voice of Anna Netrebko is truly a joy to experience; pure honey and beautifully exhibited in the Russian Album, representing all Russian composers. Highly recommended.

Hearing Anna singing in Russian is a delight. She spreads through the CD
the main Russian opera composers we are not used to hear, from Glinka, Rachmaninov, to Rimsky-Korsakoff, starting and finishing with Tchaikovsky. Her voice is more than a coloratura, besides she is an artist who performs placing the soul of the character in her voice. The quality of her swinging is remarkable.Highly recomended.

Anna Netrebko loves this repertoire. It shows with every note she sings on this CD. She is paired with Maestro Valery Gergiev, himself a lover of vocal music and a tremendous exponent of Russian opera. Netrebko, Gergiev, and the musicians of the Orchestra of the Marinsky Theatre have created something very special in this CD. I love it, and think you will too.

The bookend arias on this CD are from Iolanta and Eugene Onegin. Tchaikovsky, the undisputed master of melody, captures the pathos in Iolanta's questioning, and the passion and ardor of Tatyana as she writes to her beloved. Netrebko captures both of these heroines beautifully. Not nearly enough Russian opera is produced in the United States. I hope at least some day, we can see and hear Anna sing Tatyana.

I loved the Rachmaninov songs. They are settings of poems by Pushkin, and they are absolutely beautiful. This leads me to something else that makes this CD so special. The liner notes are fantastic, with wonderful translations. Anna's Russian diction is so clear, you'll have no trouble following.

There are four arias of Rimsky-Korsakov, including one from "The Tale of Tsar Sultan", two from "The Snow Maiden", and one from "The Tsar's Bride". These are very special, since our chances of seeing these operas produced in the U.S. is slim-to-none. They are fantastic arias, with my favorite being Marfa's Act 4 aria. Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the book (literally) on orchestration, and no composer could paint a picture like him.

I also found the bouncy "Cavatina and Rondo" from Glinka's "A Life for the Tsar" quite enjoyable. It's almost like an operetta aria.

This CD is a wonderful counterpoint to Renee Fleming's "I Want Magic". Renee's CD couldn't be more American, and Anna's CD couldn't be more Russian. All of the beauty, passion, and soul of Russian music is brought to life by this wonderful artist. This CD is a must for your collection.

Highly recommended.

This is by far Anna Netrebko's best album. While I have always found her dark warm soprano voice quite beautiful (ravishing might be a better term), sometimes I have found her portrayals to be lacking in subtlety and depth. For example her portrayal of Violetta in the first act of La Traviatta was wonderful, but her third act lacked depth.

However she has an obvious connection and a very deep feeling for this music. The interplay between orchestra and singer is wonderful; the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater under Valery Gergiev plays with lightness and perfectly supports the singer. I particularly loved the Rachmaninov and Rimsky-Korsakov songs, but this album is wonderful throughout.

No, there is nothing bland or boring here. This is certainly the best recital Anna Netrebko has given us. While singing Bellini or Verdi she can sound foreign, especially because she doesn't articulate consonants clearly, she is throughly idiomatic in her own language, and her opulent soprano has an almost Tebaldi-like purity. This is one of those few recitals that will be long-remembered. Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra are a perfect match. Do buy it.