Care-less

Like Netrebko, Callas was a stage animal. But Callas also fetishised vocal technique and courted a mystique that was old-fashioned even in the 1960s. “But the whole younger generation of singers is different – thank God,” says Netrebko. “We’re younger, much more open, much more down to earth. And we don’t care so much about watching la voce.” Using the Italian for “the voice”, she mimics exactly the sort of obsessive regard for bel-canto manners that Callas exemplified.

It shows.

(And please, stop with the Callas thing already. Netrebko is the new Callas only in the same way that Britney Spears is the new Callas.)