Abbado, Netrebko: Sempre Libera (FLAC)

Audio CD
SPARS Code: DDD
Number of Discs: 1
Format: FLAC (image+cue)
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Size: 247 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: no

# La Traviata, opera No. 3 Scena ed Aria: “È strano! è strano! – Ah, fors’ è lui – Follie! Delirio vano è questo!”
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi
Performed by Mahler Chamber Orchestra
with Saimir Pirgu, Anna Netrebko, Sascha Reckert
Conducted by Claudio Abbado

# La Traviata, opera “Sempre libera”
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi
Performed by Mahler Chamber Orchestra
with Saimir Pirgu, Anna Netrebko, Sascha Reckert
Conducted by Claudio Abbado

# La sonnambula, opera No. 12 Scena ed Aria finale: “Ah! se una volta sola rivederlo potessi”
Composed by Vincenzo Bellini
Performed by Mahler Chamber Orchestra
with Saimir Pirgu, Anna Netrebko, Sascha Reckert
Conducted by Claudio Abbado

# La sonnambula, opera “Ah! Non credea mirarti”
Composed by Vincenzo Bellini
Performed by Mahler Chamber Orchestra
with Saimir Pirgu, Anna Netrebko, Sascha Reckert
Conducted by Claudio Abbado

# La sonnambula, opera “Ah! Non giunge uman pensiero”
Composed by Vincenzo Bellini
Performed by Mahler Chamber Orchestra
with Saimir Pirgu, Anna Netrebko, Sascha Reckert
Conducted by Claudio Abbado

# I Puritani, opera No. 7 Scena ed Aria: “O rendetemi la speme – Qui la voce sua soave”
Composed by Vincenzo Bellini
Performed by Mahler Chamber Orchestra
with Andrea Concetti, Nicola Ulivieri, Anna Netrebko, Sascha Reckert
Conducted by Claudio Abbado

# I Puritani, opera “Ah! tu sorridi e asciughi il pianto!”
Composed by Vincenzo Bellini
Performed by Mahler Chamber Orchestra
with Andrea Concetti, Nicola Ulivieri, Anna Netrebko, Sascha Reckert
Conducted by Claudio Abbado

# I Puritani, opera “Vien, diletto, è in ciel la luna!”
Composed by Vincenzo Bellini
Performed by Mahler Chamber Orchestra
with Andrea Concetti, Nicola Ulivieri, Anna Netrebko, Sascha Reckert
Conducted by Claudio Abbado

# Lucia di Lammermoor, opera No. 14 Scena ed Aria: “O giusto cielo!” – “Il dolce suono”
Composed by Gaetano Donizetti
Performed by Mahler Chamber Orchestra
with Andrea Concetti, Nicola Ulivieri, Anna Netrebko, Sascha Reckert
Conducted by Claudio Abbado

# Lucia di Lammermoor, opera “Ohimè!…sorge il tremendo fantasma”
Composed by Gaetano Donizetti
Performed by Mahler Chamber Orchestra
with Andrea Concetti, Nicola Ulivieri, Anna Netrebko, Sascha Reckert
Conducted by Claudio Abbado

# Lucia di Lammermoor, opera “Ardon gli incensi”
Composed by Gaetano Donizetti
Performed by Mahler Chamber Orchestra
with Andrea Concetti, Nicola Ulivieri, Anna Netrebko, Sascha Reckert
Conducted by Claudio Abbado

# Lucia di Lammermoor, opera “Spargi d’amaro pianto”
Composed by Gaetano Donizetti
Performed by Mahler Chamber Orchestra
with Andrea Concetti, Nicola Ulivieri, Anna Netrebko, Sascha Reckert
Conducted by Claudio Abbado

# Otello, opera “Era più calmo?” – “Mia madre aveva una povera ancella”
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi
Performed by Mahler Chamber Orchestra
with Sara Mingardo, Anna Netrebko, Sascha Reckert
Conducted by Claudio Abbado

# Otello, opera “Piangeo cantando nell’erma landa”
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi
Performed by Mahler Chamber Orchestra
with Sara Mingardo, Anna Netrebko, Sascha Reckert
Conducted by Claudio Abbado

# Otello, opera “Ave Maria”
Composed by Giuseppe Verdi
Performed by Mahler Chamber Orchestra
with Sara Mingardo, Anna Netrebko, Sascha Reckert
Conducted by Claudio Abbado

# Gianni Schicchi, opera “O mio babbino caro”
Composed by Giacomo Puccini
Performed by Mahler Chamber Orchestra
with Anna Netrebko, Sascha Reckert
Conducted by Claudio Abbado

Talented singer, but should she choose her reportoire better?

Anna Netrebko has an attractive voice and a pleasing personality in this recording. But her performance also raises some questions.

First, she has a Callas-like habit (not a great compliment) when she ups her volume on higher notes of producing a rather unpleasant sound. In “Sempre libera,” from “La Traviata,” this is manifest. I compare this with the silky smooth lyric voice of Anna Moffo, from the 1960s and 1970s, who essayed this same piece in a manner much more attractive to the ear. Second, I could not hear a single trill on this CD (although maybe I missed something). In the colorature/bel canto repertoire, this is not a trifle. A trill is a standard part of a coloratura soprano’s armamentorium. In that, again, she is like Callas, who scarcely issued forth a trill. “Spargi d’amaro pianto” is one of the classic cabalettas for coloratura sopranos. Sung without trills, it is not very satisfying. Some who have recorded the pyrotechnics of the “Mad Scene” have only displayed adequate trills (e.g., Anna Moffo or Angela Gheorghiu). Others, of course, have deployed wondrous effects, such as Joan Sutherland and Beverly Sills. Just so, the cabalettas in “La Sonnambula” and “I Puritani.”

Certainly, Netrebko also exhibits considerable strengths. Other ornamentation is fine; she has an agile voice; she can hit all the notes, including the high ones. Her vocal sound is most attractive (outside the one example noted earlier of a certain harshness). Her singing in the pieces from “Otello” and “Gianni Schicchi” are very well done.

So, all in all, a nice CD, but one that does not seem to feature Anna Netrebko at her best.