KEY POINTS:
There have been some fascinating aria collections released over the last year or so, ranging from Renee Fleming exploring the heyday of the diva in Homage, to Juan Diego Florez charting out Bellini divo territory in his Arias for Rubini.
Now English soprano Kate Royal makes her solo debut with EMI.
At 28, Royal has established quite a reputation. She has notched up some solid achievements at Glyndebourne and has just completed a season of an eccentric production of Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea at English National Opera.
She even maintained an unruffled presence during Paul McCartney's Ecce Cor Meum, a stodgy crossover cantata that carried off the best album award at the Classical Brits in March.
Royal has now come up trumps on her own, with repertoire that she frankly describes as "music that meant a lot to me and offered a good selection of what I sing".
Within seconds of the first track, you will be captivated by her sensuousness in Debussy's Air de Lia, taken from his L'Enfant Prodigue, in which Royal's lovely voice floats over some rapturous playing by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields under Edward Gardner.
It is the unexpected choices that assure the disc its individuality. A complete scene from Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress allows Royal to give an emotional and dramatic context for the aria No word from Tom and the final Cabaletta is positively scrumptious.
Discoveries for me were the four Madrigales Amatorios of Rodrigo in which Royal's effortless lines wend their way through evocative orchestrations that catch the ENO wind players and the EMI engineers at their superb best.
Royal's versatility shows in three Strauss Lieder, including the well-known Morgen! that has a special sweep and intimacy.
For all the surprises, though, Royal is not above playing favourites. Three of Canteloube's Auvergne songs are among them, along with a spellbinding In trutina from Orff's Carmina Burana and a castanet-laden Les Filles de Cadix that, in a mere five minutes, almost out-Carmen's Carmen.
* Kate Royal (EMI 94419)
