"Only when a text goes against my feelings, I have a hard time. That's why I stopped singing Faust. I can't play Marguerite's character, she's such a victim, she doesn't get a chance and never protests. "I can't stand that very well. But yes, I have to say that almost all female roles in the opera have something like that", says Renée Fleming in an interview in the "Listen" (July / August 2000).
And perhaps that is why the American soprano sings on this CD mainly arias of the more spicy opera heroes. Not "Si, mì chiamano Mimi", but "Quando m'en vò" from the coquette Musetta from Puccini's opera "La bohème". Fleming's beautiful voice is much talked about and the soprano sings the words here with a sense of detail. Yet there is still a certain distance and probably the singer really comes into her own when she sings a role in which she can really fully empathize. Nevertheless, this is a nice collection of famous arias and finally we hear "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana" (from La wally) once again with the beautiful closing words of "Ma fermo il piè" (which are often omitted on a recital CD). Conductor Charles Mackerras takes on the role of accompanist and focuses on Fleming's voice. As a result, a certain tension is lacking between soloist and orchestra. At the end of the aria "Io son l'umile ancella", for example, you miss the interaction between violin and singer that makes other recordings so masterly. Other arias on the program are: "O mio babbino caro", "more
