Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
|
Product Description
CD
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Entartete Musik
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Audio CD
I adore Natalie Dessay. From the note-gilding tricks of her Mozart Concert Arias, to the abject Mélisande she delivered on her birthday last year, she has wowed time and time again. But it's useless to pretend that her voice is the instrument it once was. And what works in the concert hall no longer translates to disc, as evidenced in this new recording of Debussy Mélodies.
Rather than the whispered tones of her Mélisande, Dessay has chosen a more direct approach with works from Debussy's early years. The decision exposes nascent lyrical shortcomings. Dessay's sound is too focussed and edgy. While I praise a muscular approach to Debussy on Rafa' Blechacz's recent piano disc, it doesn't work for the composer's vocal idiom. This is uptight rather than intense singing and the effect can be waring over the course of its 73-minute duration. But when Dessay releases herself from those contraints, she shines.
A confessional 'Claire de lune' and the more pregnant reflections of 'Regret' (including some ravishing floating) allow a natural sense of communication to come to the fore. Yet in that change from spirited young girl to full-throated woman (via complicated and no doubt painful operations on her nodes), Dessay has been forced to swallow her words in favour of a more open sound. If only she could take Philippe Cassard's lead from the piano, where he provides a languid but light accompaniment.
Despite Dessay's unidiomatic presence, this is an enjoyable disc. For, bar the Prélude de l'après-midi d'un faune and the String Quartet, Debussy's early years go under-celebrated. There are four world premieres included and a rare chance to hear the 1890s cantata La damoiselle élue. But you cannot help feel that, however devoted to Dessay, she is now suited to other repertoire. Instead, for a recent Debussy benchmark, do have a listen to Sandrine Piau.
Rather than the whispered tones of her Mélisande, Dessay has chosen a more direct approach with works from Debussy's early years. The decision exposes nascent lyrical shortcomings. Dessay's sound is too focussed and edgy. While I praise a muscular approach to Debussy on Rafa' Blechacz's recent piano disc, it doesn't work for the composer's vocal idiom. This is uptight rather than intense singing and the effect can be waring over the course of its 73-minute duration. But when Dessay releases herself from those contraints, she shines.
A confessional 'Claire de lune' and the more pregnant reflections of 'Regret' (including some ravishing floating) allow a natural sense of communication to come to the fore. Yet in that change from spirited young girl to full-throated woman (via complicated and no doubt painful operations on her nodes), Dessay has been forced to swallow her words in favour of a more open sound. If only she could take Philippe Cassard's lead from the piano, where he provides a languid but light accompaniment.
Despite Dessay's unidiomatic presence, this is an enjoyable disc. For, bar the Prélude de l'après-midi d'un faune and the String Quartet, Debussy's early years go under-celebrated. There are four world premieres included and a rare chance to hear the 1890s cantata La damoiselle élue. But you cannot help feel that, however devoted to Dessay, she is now suited to other repertoire. Instead, for a recent Debussy benchmark, do have a listen to Sandrine Piau.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars
2 reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Much more than Claire de Lune
14 April 2012
By Alan-Clarke Hudson
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
An excellent CD and the hype I heard about it was all true. Dessay was made for this type music. Having a native French soprano singing French music especially from this period in music history is well worth the price of the disc. All in all, a terrific recital.
Dr. Alan-Clarke Hudson
Dr. Alan-Clarke Hudson
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Natalie Dessay at home with Debussy Songs
22 Jun 2012
By Grady Harp
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD
This album of songs, some recorded for the first time is definitely a collaboration between winger and pianist. It is the scholarship and investigation of Philippe Cassard that provided the impetus for this recording that takes Natalie Dessay away from her usual coloratura and Baroque roles and places her in the position of a chanteuse for a satisfying recital. Still, this is very much a pet project of Cassard's, and the real coup is the presentation of four unpublished songs Cassard discovered in the archives of an arts patron. The most extraordinary of these is Les Elfes, Debussy's now longest song, a perfumed, skittish setting of Leconte de Lisle's Erlking-tinged romantic ballad, but quite frankly they are all gems, with a wonderful salon feel to Romance, and brooding, almost Schubertian turmoil in L'Archet.
Dessay is at the peak of her career and while her place is most comfortably on the opera stage, she has stepped on the concert stage with relative ease. Together Dessay and Cassard offer 13 songs: Clair de Lune. Nuit d'etoiles. Pantomime. Pierrot. Apparition. En Sourdine. Fête galante. Romance. Les Cloches. Rondel chinois. La Romance d'Ariel. Regret. Le Matelot qui tombe à l'eau. Coquetterie posthume. L'Archet. Romance. Les Elfes. Flots, Palmes in which they are joined by Catherine Michel, harp, and the mini-oratorio La Damoiselle élue blissfully delivered by Dessay with Karine Deshayes, mezzo soprano and the chamber version with the Jeune Choeur de Paris conducted by Henri Chalet. As ne critic has said, `The choir and mezzo are flawless, and without orchestra to fight against, Dessay takes her fragile sound down to a delectable whisper. In many ways this is the highlight of the disc and supplements the classic orchestral versions with Victoria de los Angeles or, for a similar vulnerability to the singing, Ileana Cotrubas.'
Though this is a new direction for Dessay, and that alone can explain the at times odd decisions she makes vocally as she has the stage to herself independent of operatic trappings, her crystalline and supple coloratura serve her well. This is an art song collector's prize and should find a rather satisfied audience beyond the usual scope of Natalie Dessay's current operatic following. Grady Harp, June 12
Dessay is at the peak of her career and while her place is most comfortably on the opera stage, she has stepped on the concert stage with relative ease. Together Dessay and Cassard offer 13 songs: Clair de Lune. Nuit d'etoiles. Pantomime. Pierrot. Apparition. En Sourdine. Fête galante. Romance. Les Cloches. Rondel chinois. La Romance d'Ariel. Regret. Le Matelot qui tombe à l'eau. Coquetterie posthume. L'Archet. Romance. Les Elfes. Flots, Palmes in which they are joined by Catherine Michel, harp, and the mini-oratorio La Damoiselle élue blissfully delivered by Dessay with Karine Deshayes, mezzo soprano and the chamber version with the Jeune Choeur de Paris conducted by Henri Chalet. As ne critic has said, `The choir and mezzo are flawless, and without orchestra to fight against, Dessay takes her fragile sound down to a delectable whisper. In many ways this is the highlight of the disc and supplements the classic orchestral versions with Victoria de los Angeles or, for a similar vulnerability to the singing, Ileana Cotrubas.'
Though this is a new direction for Dessay, and that alone can explain the at times odd decisions she makes vocally as she has the stage to herself independent of operatic trappings, her crystalline and supple coloratura serve her well. This is an art song collector's prize and should find a rather satisfied audience beyond the usual scope of Natalie Dessay's current operatic following. Grady Harp, June 12
›
Go to Amazon.com to see both reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
