This collection of songs is valuable in many ways, not least to find out how many melodic motives later were recycled and developed in Puccini’s operas. Krassimira Stoyanova has a grand voice, vibrant, beautiful and expressive and she easily scales it down to the dimensions suitable for the simpler songs but used with impressive power and intensity for the more operatic items.

Her disc of Puccini songs demonstrates why she's amongst the most sought-after sopranos of the day. Stoyanova's voice has a cool, almost instrumental quality, which then bursts into a surprisingly rich and warm sound when she unleashes it, but always with a sense of control...Stoynova sails through it in glorious voice and Maria Prinz's accompaniment is as equally accomplished. For lovers of good singing.