Patricia Petibon's album Melancolía: Spanish Arias and Songs is a result of the soprano's lifelong fascination with the music and culture of Spain, with a special interest in the ways Spanish and French influences have cross-pollinated. She has put together an exceptionally attractive selection of songs and arias from zarzuelas, most of them likely to be unfamiliar to general audiences. Petibon is known for her light, silvery coloratura, and her gift for inhabiting her roles, both dramatic and comic, with great spirit and penetrating insight. This repertoire doesn't especially exploit her coloratura abilities, but it gives free range to her expressive talents, from the feral intensity of the traditional Yoruba chant Ogundé uareré and the unrestrained yawps of Giménez's aria "La tarantula é un bicho múmalo" to the suave lyricism of the familiar Aria from Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5. Even at interpretive extremes, Petibon maintains her characteristic tonal purity and clarity; the final note of the Villa-Lobos rings like a bell. The album concludes with a work newly written for Petibon by French composer Nicolas Bacri, a four-song cycle, Melodías de la melancolía. It's a terrific piece that at its best recalls Peter Lieberson's Neruda Songs, which is very high praise. Fans of Spanish music and anyone who loves Petibon's distinctive performances are likely to be delighted with this album. Josep Pons leads Orquesta Nacional de España in idiomatic, energetic accompaniment.