Anna Netrebko’s second album for DG is even better than her first. Consummately conducted by no less than the leading Italian maestro in the world, Claudio Abbado, it is a fine achievement. A bel canto highlight of the album is surely the Lucia Mad Scene, glistening with perfectly nailed Es and hauntingly accompanied by the eerie sound of a glass harmonica. The notes of the album emphasize how hard she has worked, and her progress in the Donizetti since I reviewed her first album is marked. Perhaps too, she has benefited from the superior accompaniment of Maestro Abbado. Particularly noteworthy is her limpid singing of the Sonnambula aria, capped by fiery bravura. Anna Netrebko sings bel canto music with unusual spirit and temperament, and her singing of the Sonnambula scena is much more animated than that of her senior colleague, Renée Fleming. Though La Fleming currently occupies the throne, it would not be surprising if she, and in fact all other prima donnas, are nervously looking over their shoulders at Miss Netrebko’s juggernaut.

Anna Netrebko is not a one-dimensional singer. That she is a wonderful Verdi soprano is demonstrated by her singing of two Traviata arias and most especially a flawlessly sung “Ave Maria.” “O mio babbino caro” finds her comfortably at home in verismo. What an ideal Lauretta she would make on stage! Natural sounding recording from DG; the booklet is full of lovely photographs.

James Camner, FANFARE