What now for Anna Netrebko? On disc, the Russian diva has long since given us the major arias. Then came the minor ones, chosen, naturally, from her native songbook. We've had the duets with Mexican tenor Rolando Villazón; the two were Europe's favourite made-up celebrity opera couple, at least until he repented of the marketing tag. Now comes “a very intimate performance of cherished lighter works... each selection comes with a special memory for Netrebko”.

The problem with this collection isn't that this is obvious codswallop. It is that too, of course: no Russian opera singer grows up with German operetta, the largest element in Souvenirs. But Netrebko's biggest market is Austria and Germany. She carries an Austrian passport, a tribute from a besotted nation. The least she could do is pay them back with some Lehár or Kálmán.

Which would be fine if she could pull it off. Yet every fibre in Netrebko's voice pulls against it. A great flirt on stage, here she steamrollers her way through these come-hither numbers. High notes are hurled out like offensive weapons. The German diction is terrible. In the first of three turns with guest stars (all from the DG stable and obviously planted in advance of their own albums), she practically blows the graceful tenor Piotr Beczala out of the studio in Heuberger's Im Chambre séparée, making this winsome duet more of a battle than a seduction.

Things improve, but not by much. Soupy accompaniment from Emmanuel Villaume and Prague Philharmonia is sometimes sweet, sometimes indigestible. Charpentier's Depuis le jour is still afflicted by Slavic asperity; the orgasmic sigh in the final bars comes too late to remedy the lack of moment to moment spontaneity. Netrebko finally perks up for a spicy Spanish number, La tarantula, but it still ends up sounding like a jingle for prepackaged paella.

Netrebko is still Netrebko: you'll hear that lustrous soprano at full tilt in, unsurprisingly, the Russian items, but also an evocative Solveig's Song (Grieg) and Dvorák's glorious Songs My Mother Taught Me. But when it comes to special memories of this CD, my fondest was realising that I had reached the end.

(DG, TS £14.99)

www.timesselects.co.uk/music

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