Renee Fleming.(BEL CANTO: Arias from La Sonnambula, Il Pirata, Maria Padilla, Lucrezia Borgia, Armida and Semiramide)

* "BEL CANTO" Arias from La Sonnambula, Il Pirata, Maria Padilla, Lucrezia Borgia, Armida and Semiramide. Orchestra of St. Luke's, Summers. Decca 467101

It's as if Lisa Della Casa had invaded the Callas repertoire--and succeeded. That is, in effect, what's occurring here; a lyric soprano noted as the Countess and Arabella is flying over the steep, jagged hurdles erected by Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini and leaving current competition far behind. The exploit does not exactly come out of the blue. Onstage, mostly some time back, Fleming has performed six of the seven roles excerpted here. Still, it's startling, on this new disc, to hear her flaunt top notes and bottom notes with such aplomb, including high E-flats in "Ah! non giunge" and an interpolated E-flat in her stunning "Era dessa il figlio mio" from Lucrezia Borgia.

We hear an uncharacteristic, full-frontal attack on a steady series of rounded, gleaming high B-flats, Bs and Cs. She relishes difficult fioritura for dramatic purposes, of course, but also for the thrill of it, especially in the more frivolous star turns from Rossini's Armida and Donizetti's Maria Padilla. In the cascading cabalettas from Il Pirata and Lucrezia Borgia, Fleming has virtually reinvented ...