Album: Karine Babajanyan, Puccini Arias (EMI Classics)

Not even stand-ups tanking at the Glasgow Empire have died as often as divas specialising in Puccini heroines – but who doesn't enjoy a good death scene, especially when animated this elegantly?

Thanks partly to her appearance in the opera scene in Quantum of Solace, the Armenian soprano Karine Babajanyan is reaching a wide audience. Her appearance as Tosca is echoed here in a stirring "Vissi D'Arte", while her experience as Cio-Cio San comes through in the Butterfly arias "Un Bel Di, Vedremo" and the duet "Bimba Dagli Occhi Pieni Di Malia"; her partner in that, Giuseppe Giacomini, gets a showcase in "Nessun Dorma".

Download this: 'Un Bel Di, Vedremo', 'Vissi D'Arte', 'Sola, Perduta, Abandonata', 'Nessun Dorma'