ROSSINI SCENES. June Anderson, soprano; forces of...

ROSSINI SCENES. June Anderson, soprano; forces of Teatro Comunale di Bologna, conducted by Daniele Gatti. London 436 377-2. This recording is an anomaly. Anderson’s singing ranks among the best, as well as the worst, she has done on discs, the repertory astutely chosen to include mostly unhackneyed works.

The caveat, however, is in the extended “Ermione” excerpt. Her tone here is brassy, edgy, and her phrasing often clumsy. Why there were no retakes is baffling, for what follows afterward indicates an almost entirely different singer in accuracy, sensibility and musicality.

Anderson has technique to spare in a dazzling, richly varied account of the bravura “Viaggio a Reims” scena and, perhaps even more impressive, a creamy legato in three excerpts from “Otello,” including a feathery “Willow Song” that in melodic inventiveness and poignancy may even surpass Verdi’s. The “Tell,” “Donna del Lago” and “Semiramide” pieces are on the same level. Gatti presided over sensitive, incisive accompaniments.