Joyce DiDonato has made some terrific records over the past few years, including a delicious programme of Handel duets Virgin (10/04), but this is her first solo disc. She is technically well equipped: her voice is bright, firm and even throughout its range – the top is never shrill and the bottom is powerful but not ‘chesty’ – and intonation is always spot on. It’s her temperament that sets her apart, however. From the first song, there’s an electric charge running through this recital that suggests a live performance (though it was recorded in a Paris church sans audience).

DiDonato throws herself into the music head first, vaulting over the high-lying phrases of Bernstein’s ‘Extinguish my eyes…’ with aplomb. And how varied her singing is. Note the deft transition from fiery abandon in that first song to the unexpected sensuality of the final phrase. Or the way she lightens her voice to a wisp for the line ‘I have forgotten’ in the otherwise emotionally heavy What lips my lips have kissed. Or the dusky gypsy-like tone she employs in A Julia de Burgos.

The programme’s centerpiece is Copland’s Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson. DiDonato occasionally sacrifices textual clarity for lyrical abandon but her performance has an improvisatory character that makes this undervalued cycle absolutely riveting. Pianist David Zobel deserves credit, too; his brilliant, sensitive playing is illuminating and exhilarating.

Jake Heggie’s Deepest Desire set (based on texts by Sister Helen Prejean of Dead Man Walking fame) pales somewhat in comparison with Copland’s expressive concision, though the former writes effectively for the voice and is a fine melodist. In any case, DiDonato makes the most of the four songs’ dramatic potential. An auspicious debut, indeed!