Just in case the name of Michel Legrand is not familiar, he is the composer of the infuriatingly catchy "The Windmills of My Mind" (actually "The Windmills of My Heart" in the original French) and all the songs in Les Para... more »pluies de Cherbourg, the charming Catherine Deneuve film musical. The material on this disc ranges from the smoky melancholy of "Je vivrai sans toi" ("I Will Live Without You") to the hyperbolic camp of "Celui-là" ("The One") but mainly hovers in the realm of anguished longing. Jessye Norman uses the material to show off the extraordinary range and flexibility of her voice. She slips between a pure, almost boyish sound and a full-throated luxurious warble with ease. But idiomatically she may not be to everyone's taste: for the most part this is the musical territory inhabited by the Billie Holidays of the world, and Norman's technique puts her at a disadvantage. Michel Legrand in his role as pianist is another matter, however. His carefully nuanced accompaniments flow with improvisatory ease, and inspire some great moments from the bass and drums. --Warwick Thompson« less
Just in case the name of Michel Legrand is not familiar, he is the composer of the infuriatingly catchy "The Windmills of My Mind" (actually "The Windmills of My Heart" in the original French) and all the songs in Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, the charming Catherine Deneuve film musical. The material on this disc ranges from the smoky melancholy of "Je vivrai sans toi" ("I Will Live Without You") to the hyperbolic camp of "Celui-là" ("The One") but mainly hovers in the realm of anguished longing. Jessye Norman uses the material to show off the extraordinary range and flexibility of her voice. She slips between a pure, almost boyish sound and a full-throated luxurious warble with ease. But idiomatically she may not be to everyone's taste: for the most part this is the musical territory inhabited by the Billie Holidays of the world, and Norman's technique puts her at a disadvantage. Michel Legrand in his role as pianist is another matter, however. His carefully nuanced accompaniments flow with improvisatory ease, and inspire some great moments from the bass and drums. --Warwick Thompson
nwdixieboy | Seattle, WA United States | 03/06/2000
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I was fairly pleased with this pop excursion by Norman. It was much better than her last Lucky to Be Me disc. In my opinion about half of the the songs are done well, and 15 % of the disc is really wonderful. Norman succeeds when she really scales the voice down, avoids going high, and sings in a restrained almost Julie London style. Her undoing is when she trys to do Streisand or Dion belting . Her voice overwhelms the songs in those instances. Much of the time , though, she does succeed in bringing great beauty and valid sense of style to the music. The ninth cut on the disc is really much more of a classical lieder piece and is sung with gorgeous abandon. It also has the added benefit of some really remarkable baritonal low notes at the end(it sounded like a low D to me, but I could be wrong). If you are a Norman fan , you might really enjoy this disc if you edit out the 4 or 5 numbers which do not work in my opinion. Legrand and company are really wonderful. As an added bonus the two photos of Norman are AMAZING!"
Think twice before crossing over
P H Wan | Hong Kong | 08/04/2000
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Let's face it, it's far easier for us to listen to and for Jessye Norman to sing Wagner, Richard Strauss, Mahler even Purcell then Le Grand. Like many others, I admire her voice, her interpretation, her artistry and whatever else that comes with this personality. But this disc has not given me that thrill that her other discs have given me in the past.I think her voice still sounds great, Grady Tate and Ron Carter are as good as ever. It's just that this is not really Jessye's repertoire. To have one or two of these songs in a compilation disc would be excellent, but to listen to a whole disc would be an overdose.Messieur Le Grand is a great pianist, but I'm not sure whether it is intentional to make both the singer and the pianist/song writer get the same coverage, so that the volume of the piano is louder and the part for the piano is more prominent then an average jazz record. At certain point, the piano is clearly in the singer's way. I'd say this is not a particularly successful "cross-over" attempt. Nevertheless, the cover photo is pretty alluring."
Partly disappointing
Pierre L. Laleau | 04/04/2007
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I own many of Ms Norman's records, and she has just about the best classically trained voice around, but this record is very up and down. In short... her voice is overly classical for this type of music. M. Michel Legrand est genial... and his music makes this record."
Breathtaking, magnificent....A MUST HAVE!!!
The Cultural Observer | 08/03/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is no doubt, a great CD by a great diva and a great composer...period. It's jazz singing at its very finest, with the most beautiful nuances and vocalization you'll probably ever hear. Jessye Norman, one of my favorite Sieglinde's, Ariadnes, and Kundry's, sings these songs in such an artistic and captivating way that I would gladly give in and say that this is one of the best CD's I've ever owned. Highly recommended!"
Sublime, Incandescent
Alfred Junior Smith | Toronto, Canada | 12/02/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Like most of the reviewers here, this album has given me countless hours of sublime pleasure. It's pure gold. This collaboration embodies a wonderful honesty, authenticity, subtlety, and incandescence...qualities that are very rare nowadays. It's a must have for anyone who appreciates the subtle, sublime and the unpretentious. This album simply could not be better.
The silly comments made by the the first reviewer is an unfortunate testament to the murderous mediocrity of the common palate. The macdonaldization of the collective palate renders most of us incapable of appreciating anything but the expected.