Anna Netrebko & Rolando Villazón - Duets by Puccini, Donizetti, Verdi, Gounod etc.
Staatskapelle Dresden / Luisotti
Decca 470 2962
Release date April 2007

No gentle introduction to this disc – within seconds we’re plunged into the ardour of Rodolfo and Mimi in O soave fanciulla from Puccini’s La Bohème, rapidly followed by a substantial scene from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor where Edgar takes his leave of Lucia. The Puccini is good, although perhaps Netrebko sounds a shade too glorious for a poverty-stricken consumptive. The Donizetti is very convincing, Villazon’s liquid tone in the closing section especially impressive. From there, it’s on to the Duke sweeping Gilda off her feet in Rigoletto, followed by lovers’ meetings from Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette and Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de perles. One senses that French is possibly not the language in which they feel most comfortable, but perhaps it’s their passion that obscures their diction. Netrebko is ultra-seductive as Manon in the pivotal scene with Des Grieux from Massenet’s Manon, then it’s into Russian and the scene from Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta where the knight Vaudémont persuades the blind Iolanta to desire light – not surprisingly, more Netrebko’s forte, where she conveys a real sense of ecstasy by the end of the duet. Villazón is much more at home in the closing duet, from Torroba’s zarzuela Luisa Fernando. So, a slightly mixed box of very rich chocolates – but it is thrilling to hear two young but experienced (and undeniably talented) singers throw themselves into such music!

Reviewed by Anne McAlister