Greatest moments at the Met

"Although she recently sang a new role in the world premiere of Kevin Puts' opera The Hours , at 63 years old, "America's favourite soprano" Renée Fleming has now retired from the operas featured here ... These nineteen roles thus chronologically chart her appearances at the Metropolitan Opera over a quarter of a century, forming both a tribute to that extraordinarily successful collaboration and providing a comprehensive retrospective of a carefully managed career ... No singer is perfect; it is possible to find fault with some very slightly laboured top notes and a tendency towards excessively swoopy portamenti and a breathy expressivity, but for the most part the accomplishment demonstrated here is captivating; the listener may sit back and luxuriate in the creamy, unforced sound of a singer whose repertoire has encompassed an impressively wide range of styles ... With one or two reservations inevitably arising from personal taste, I find virtually everything here to be a delight ... No admirer of Renée Fleming need hesitate to acquire it".

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"Renée Fleming's artistic stature hasn't kept pace with her superstardom - isn't that so often the case? - and this new compilation of her best live Metropolitan Opera moments will bolster the opinions of both admirers and detractors. The vocal quality isn't in question ... When she stepped away from the Met in 2017 she was singing well but seemed les engaged by her longtime roles (Rusalka, for one) ... The set's high point is 'Das war sehr gut, Mandryka' from Arabella, in which the gradual expansion of her tone quality becomes a visceral dramatisation of how her character fearlessly opens her heart to the man she will marry".