Renée Fleming Glitters at Carnegie Hall Recital

(Photo: Chris Lee)

Though Ms. Fleming is sometimes criticized for being interpretively fussy, her singing here was beautifully direct. When evoking the lover’s rapture breaking to the surface in “Ansturm” (“Onslaught”), her voice throbbed with tremulous intensity. But during an eerie passage in “Letzte Bitte,” when the imagery describes blood glistening like the night sky, Ms. Fleming’s sound was focused and spectral. [Source]