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Review
Disc of the Week Here is a Lucia to match Callas or Sutherland. Natalie Dessay s light soprano gives a vivid impression of Lucia s vulnerable personality. The Mad Scene is enthralling. Piotr Beczala is a gloriously virile Edgardo, and the Italian style of the Russian cast more than acceptable. With Valery Gergiev a surprisingly sensitive conductor, this is a top-rank recording of a marvellous opera Daily Telegraph (UK) --Daily Telegraph (UK)
Editor's Choice 'The new recording from the Mariinsky brings us into another world ... Dessay's delicately thought-out heroine, [is] well captured in this new Russian set' --Gramophone (UK)
**** Performance ***** Recording The main attraction is Natalie Dessay as Lucia, a part she can despatch without strain ... as post-Maria Callas Lucias go, she is one of the best --BBC Music Magazine (UK)
Editor's Choice 'The new recording from the Mariinsky brings us into another world ... Dessay's delicately thought-out heroine, [is] well captured in this new Russian set' --Gramophone (UK)
**** Performance ***** Recording The main attraction is Natalie Dessay as Lucia, a part she can despatch without strain ... as post-Maria Callas Lucias go, she is one of the best --BBC Music Magazine (UK)
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By D. S. CROWE
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
The odds on me reviewing this set -and even more so actually liking it-are colossal. I really do not like the "bel canto" repertoire at all, and would consign most of the Sutherland/Bonynge output to the dustbin of eternity (OK, L'Elisir and Fille du Regiment are tolerable).
Foremost among my dislikes are Lucia and Norma. However, although my tastes are very German/Austrian and Late Verdi/Verismo orientated, I have an obsession with works like Tales of Hoffmann and Die Fledermaus, so conversion has always been a possibility.
Having enjoyed Gergiev's Parsifal, I was intrigued by the sheer unlikelihood of this recording-and I was "blown away." It is full on , red-blooded Verdi style conducting (hence the review title), of the Ken Dodd school (a revered British comedian , one of whose catchphrases is "I've got it to give, and By Jove you're going to get it"!)
I'm not going to crtically analyse the performance-it would be an impertinence. Suffice to say that I revelled in it from start to finish! Dessay is spectacular, Beczala, whom I saw in Vienna as a superb Faust is again spirited and sings with intelligence and a beautfiful legato. The rest of the cast sound like all Verdians should, and recording and playing are top notch-the glass harmonica is wonderfully effective.The chorus is as superb as it is seemingly vast.
With Parsifal, Gergiev managed to convince me with his reading of a work I love deeply-with this Lucia, he has converted me to enjoying enormously a work I hitherto did not care for, and that is a truly great achievement in my eyes-or rather ears! This is a great rollicking blast of a recording, and coming from me, any praise at all would be extraordinary. I don't know if bel canto purists will be as enthused as I am, but I urge all who love full on ,over the top Grand Opera to give this a hearing. Glorious 5 stars. (BY THE WAY, FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ONLY READ THE TITLE-YES-I DO Know It's By DONIZETTI! I like it bcause the interpretation is more like V than D! Clear enough?Sometimes I wonder! See comments below!) Stewart Crowe
Foremost among my dislikes are Lucia and Norma. However, although my tastes are very German/Austrian and Late Verdi/Verismo orientated, I have an obsession with works like Tales of Hoffmann and Die Fledermaus, so conversion has always been a possibility.
Having enjoyed Gergiev's Parsifal, I was intrigued by the sheer unlikelihood of this recording-and I was "blown away." It is full on , red-blooded Verdi style conducting (hence the review title), of the Ken Dodd school (a revered British comedian , one of whose catchphrases is "I've got it to give, and By Jove you're going to get it"!)
I'm not going to crtically analyse the performance-it would be an impertinence. Suffice to say that I revelled in it from start to finish! Dessay is spectacular, Beczala, whom I saw in Vienna as a superb Faust is again spirited and sings with intelligence and a beautfiful legato. The rest of the cast sound like all Verdians should, and recording and playing are top notch-the glass harmonica is wonderfully effective.The chorus is as superb as it is seemingly vast.
With Parsifal, Gergiev managed to convince me with his reading of a work I love deeply-with this Lucia, he has converted me to enjoying enormously a work I hitherto did not care for, and that is a truly great achievement in my eyes-or rather ears! This is a great rollicking blast of a recording, and coming from me, any praise at all would be extraordinary. I don't know if bel canto purists will be as enthused as I am, but I urge all who love full on ,over the top Grand Opera to give this a hearing. Glorious 5 stars. (BY THE WAY, FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ONLY READ THE TITLE-YES-I DO Know It's By DONIZETTI! I like it bcause the interpretation is more like V than D! Clear enough?Sometimes I wonder! See comments below!) Stewart Crowe
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.2 out of 5 stars
6 reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Dessay is Past her Vocal Prime
22 Aug 2011
By David L. Reynolds
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I really wanted to like this performance as I've enjoyed so many of Natalie Dessay's performances in the past. I'm afraid "past" has to be the operative word here as she sounds very uncomfortable indeed. Within a narrow dynamic range, Dessay can still be impressive, her tone well-supported, her phrasing clear and specific. However whenever she puts pressure on her voice, an unpleasant vibrato, almost a wobble, intrudes diminishing her intentions. She sounds like she is walking on vocal eggshells, wanting to make bold choices, but unable to because of her fragile vocal estate. Furthermore, the highest notes are achieved with desperate lunges and are not at all pretty or exciting. She just manages an E-flat at the end of the Mad Scene. Some opera lovers insist one has to see her on stage to understand why people love her so much. Maybe, but this is a CD. Perhaps the Met will release a DVD of her performances from last March (seen in HD in movie theaters), but there her voice was in even more parlous condition.
The other singers are satisfactory, if unmemorable. Beczala has a handsome sound and certainly can sing this role well (he's excellent on the DVD with Netrebko), but here he sounds like he's just phoning it in. There's little passion and even less involvement. The other singers have excellent voices, but sound like they have no idea what they're singing about. Gergiev's leadership is limp and uninspired as is the fuzzy, diffuse sound.
If you love Dessay, you may still want this as some kind of souvenir. But try to get hold of one of her Met broadcasts from 2007 or one of her performances from even earlier. This simply came too late and in a crowded field it's an also-ran.
Incidentally, Dessay recorded the French version of Lucia (now reissued on EMI). That one finds her in far better voice with a superior supporting cast.
The other singers are satisfactory, if unmemorable. Beczala has a handsome sound and certainly can sing this role well (he's excellent on the DVD with Netrebko), but here he sounds like he's just phoning it in. There's little passion and even less involvement. The other singers have excellent voices, but sound like they have no idea what they're singing about. Gergiev's leadership is limp and uninspired as is the fuzzy, diffuse sound.
If you love Dessay, you may still want this as some kind of souvenir. But try to get hold of one of her Met broadcasts from 2007 or one of her performances from even earlier. This simply came too late and in a crowded field it's an also-ran.
Incidentally, Dessay recorded the French version of Lucia (now reissued on EMI). That one finds her in far better voice with a superior supporting cast.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Lackluster Performance
30 Aug 2011
By Michael Tortora
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD
This set looks very appealing, however, this is a performance that lacks excitement and stars a soprano who shold not be singing this role. Ms. Dessay's sound can be shrill and unpleasant and there is a great tendency for the voice to spread under pressure. At times sounding downright ugly. I thought the saving grace of the performance would be the tenor Piotr Beczala as Edgardo but he offers nothing special. At best his voice is servicble. As for the conducting, Gergiev is just marking time. The one good thing about this set is that the opera is performed virtually complete. If you want a Lucia look back to the Sutherland, Callas era.....!
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
A note of caution
12 Aug 2011
By Santa Fe Listener
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Audio CD
Please don't take this as a review, but after listening online to the first act of this new 'Lucia," I gave up. Dessay's slow wide vibrato is not appealing. After hearing Dessay'sher 'Quando, rapito in estasi,' I listened to Calls, Scotto, and Gheorghiu. I know Dessay is beloved, but she isn't even in the ballpark. There's an appealing vulnerability, but the rest is deficient on several grounds, starting with vocal production, phrasing, attack, and dramatic shaping of the aria. She's droopy in the same way that Sutherland used to be criticized for. I realize that Dessay is beloved, and I've admired her in concert, but not here.
Gergiev's conducting is polished but rather glib and oddly without punch. Gifted with an innately beautiful lyric tone, Piotr Beczala sounds monochromatic and uninvolved here. I suppose we can't ask for Italianate style anymore. It's certainly nowhere to be heard in this performance. On their own terms, the Russian cast is robust and strong. So take this as a note of caution, since I have no basis for criticizing the entire performance.
Gergiev's conducting is polished but rather glib and oddly without punch. Gifted with an innately beautiful lyric tone, Piotr Beczala sounds monochromatic and uninvolved here. I suppose we can't ask for Italianate style anymore. It's certainly nowhere to be heard in this performance. On their own terms, the Russian cast is robust and strong. So take this as a note of caution, since I have no basis for criticizing the entire performance.
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 6 reviews
3.2 out of 5 stars
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