Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Louis Langree, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment :: Natalie Dessay - Mozart Heroines

Small blots on a stunning landscape

Ed Beveridge | London, England | 02/20/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It's rather interesting that of the reviews available on this site, two give this recording the lowest possible rating and two the highest. How can this be? I found this a deeply satisfying disc although if pushed I wouldn't say it was as awesomely stunning as her French recital. But perhaps - dangerously - we are beginning to take Dessay and others like her for granted. Probably she is less well-suited to some of the pieces on this disc than she is to french coloratura roles but she is still leaps and bounds ahead of just about anyone else singing this repertoire today. She is an artist we need to cherish rather than run down with snotty notices - the operatic world today wouldn't be the same without her. That said, there are problems with this recital. Of all the roles she sings here, the Queen of Night sounds less thrilling than the others - the tone lacks brilliance and the tuning is occasionally suspect - even though it's a role she can sing standing on her head. I rather preferred her wistful, gently sung Pamina (phenomenal control) and it makes me impatient for her to take the part into her repertoire. Constanze is already in her repertiore and her rendition of the arias here are well in character. Much is made of her relative lack of thrust at the bottom of the stave but very few others have the absolute command at the top, again not something we should take for granted. She certainly turns in a spirited performance - as she does in the "Tiger" aria from Zaide. The sensuous "Ruhe sanft" from this latter work suits her well, though neither aria fills me with longing to see it staged, with or without Dessay. No, as we learnt from her thrilling "Mitridate" recording, virtuoso fireworks from Mozart's early works are what suit her best. So we have the fiendish "Ah! Se il crudel periglio" from Lucio Silla, described by Edita Gruberova (and she knew exactly what she was doing) as having some "excruciatingly difficult coloratura". Not here; Dessay makes light of the contortions Mozart demands of her and throws in a few altissimo high-jinks of her own. Ditto the Fawn's aria from "Ascanio" - not the most interesting piece in itself, until Dessay turns it into an ever-more breathtaking display of her phenomenal technique, These two numbers are easily worth the price of the disc. Finally, we are taken to another, much calmer place - Ilia's act three aria from Idomeneo. Recit and Aria are lovingly, sensitively sung. This is another part she could really make something of on stage. Langree's tempi are always apt and the OAE make what to my ear is a period appripriate sound - it's certainly not big-house Mozart, anyway - and generally support their soloist admirably. No, in spite of the nit-picking above, I would recommend this disc most heartily, because it shows an expert doing what she does best - and that's got to be worth hearing."

Virtuosity and intelligence

M. Tietjen | Syracuse, NY, USA | 01/09/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the album that fans of French soprano Natalie Dessay have waited for ever since the release of her first recital disc, which consisted of Mozart's lesser known concert arias. Dessay may be the best coloratura of modern times, and fans of coloratura singing will be pleased with the arias from Lucio Silla and Ascanio in Alba. The latter is ten minutes of sheer virtuosity, and Dessay tosses out high F's and above as easily as Mado Robin or Erna Sack, and with more musical intelligence than either. Her F's also sparkle in the two arias of one of her signature roles, the Queen of the Night from Die Zauberflote, a role she despises although you wouldn't know it from this disc. The famous Revenge Aria is taken at a dangerously fast tempo, but Dessay (and the orchestra, which is fantastic throughout the album) keeps up easily. And to show that there is more to her than mere coloratura agility, she also presents Pamina's aria from the same opera, giving a performance as deep and moving as any I have heard. Her high note on "Ruh" is amazing. The two arias from Die Entführung aus dem Serail are also very well performed, and almost makes one wish that she had also included "Ach ich liebte," perhaps in the place of one of the Zaide arias. But all in all the CD is excellent, and once again proves that Natalie Dessay deserves credit as more than just a coloratura phenomenon. One more thing: are the male faun from Ascanio in Alba and the evil Queen of the Night really deserving of the title "Heroines?""

The coloratura of our generation!!

amcdfan1 | TN United States | 08/11/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mere words can not express what a joy it is to listen to Natalie Dessay. This French coloratura has been sweeping the world for a few years now as the definitive Queen of the Night, and even though she's retiring the role, we have it preserved here for life. She is un-matched in what she can achieve above the staff. No other soprano today can sing high E's and F's that are as full and round as Natalie Dessay's. Even Joan Sutherland at her peak couldn't have come close to the sheer beauty of Natalie's notes. Her mid-range, as she described in an interview with Opera News, is still under construction; however, she still brings warmth and emotion to the arias of Pamina and Zaide. The highlights of this album are the two Queen of the Night arias and Constanze's aria, "Marten allen Arten" from Seraglio. I will forever be a fan and will look forward to any recording she ever makes in the future. Brava Natalie!!"