Natalie Dessay - The Miracle of the Voice

 

Release Date: 01/16/2007 Label: Virgin Classics Number of discs: 2 Composer: Various Performer: Natalie Dessay cd info/ buy

Review:

Natalie Dessay has been in the forefront now for well nigh fifteen years and it is not only the usual hype to entitle this album “The Miracle of the Voice”. She certainly has an astonishing technique: bell-like clarity, effortless top notes, sure-footed coloratura and a trill to match. Her pianissimo singing is ravishing and then her tone is smooth as satin. It is a light voice, though she can engender quite a lot of power and then she also finds a somewhat darker timbre. The Mad Scene from Lucie de Lammermoor shows her dramatic abilities and she is obviously a good actor. listening through this two and a half hours offering was a great pleasure and I soon forgot to conjure up memories of many a great singer from the distant – and not so distant – past who have excelled in this repertoire. She is definitely a miracle of her own and here are collected some of the most taxing arias ever written and they are impressively sung. It is a pity that the notes don’t give any clues as to when the recordings were made, how the voice has changed during the ten years this collection encompasses, but to my ears her voice seems to have been very consistent. The program is a fine mix and shows the many-sided talent of this fascinating artist.

 

flac, covers

Johann Strauß II - Die Fledermaus - Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Johann Strauß II - Die Fledermaus - Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Opera | Eac, flac, cue | log, cover | 2 CD, 411 MB
May 18, 1989 | Teldec | RapidShare

Let's set aside the monster cast in this recording. All of them deliver a great theatrical performance. Powerful and charming singing. Ms. Bonney is one of my favorite sopranos, and the legend Gruberová is as great as she's always been. But the issue in this recording is Maestro Harnoncourt and the Royal Concertgebouw. Altogether, they offer us a new, fresh, elegant and spectacular recording with a sound (allow me to remark: a sound, what a sound!) seldom heard in some other recordings. Harnoncourt's reading is so meticulous that changes and challenges all Die Fledermaus recordings I have listened to. Even tho' the Kleiber DG DVD recording is one the greatest ever, I do not mind having both recordings. Bravo Maestro!


Die Fledermaus (The Bat), operetta (RV 503)

Composed by Johann II Strauss

Performed by Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam
with Werner Hollweg, Jon Thorsteinsson, Edita Gruberova, Barbara Bonney, Marjana Lipovsek, Andre Heller, Anton Scharinger, Yong-Hee Kim, Elisabeth von Magnus, Waldemar Kmentt, Andrea Poddighe, Angela Bello, Christian Boesch, Josef Protschka, Ernst Theo Richter, Jeremy Munro
Conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt