ARIAS BY DVORAK, JANACEK, SMETANA, PROKOFIEV, TCHAIKOVSKY....

ARIAS BY DVORAK, JANACEK, SMETANA, PROKOFIEV, TCHAIKOVSKY. Lucia Popp, soprano; Munich Radio Orchestra conducted by Stefan Soltesz. EMI-Angel CDC7 49319 2. This intelligently planned program includes rarities, some of which (like an excerpt from Dvorak’s “Armida”) stand on their own. Others, like Jenufa’s Act Two soliloquy from the Janacek opera, or a bit from “War and Peace” resist removal from context. The Czech-born soprano is so emotionally attuned to the material, so idiomatically expressive that even breathy gasps and occasional spread notes under pressure can’t completely defuse a heartfelt Tchaikovsky “Letter Scene” or spoil the atmospherics of Rusalka’s hymn to the silver moon.