Search - Leo Delibes, Camille Saint-Saens, Alexander Alyabyev :: Natalie Dessay - Vocalise

Resplendent

Laura Fleming | East Providence, RI United States | 12/10/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"French soprano Natalie Dessay sings a beautiful program of coloratura gems. One critic has dubbed her the "thinking man's" coloratura soprano. The voice is pure and agile with a transluscent quality about it. Flirtatious and sensual in "Les filles de cadix" and dulcet in "J'ai vu passer l'hirondelle," Dessay is a fine interpreter. She uses her voice like an instrument in the actual vocalise selections, coloring her lines tastefully and elegantly. One reviewer attested to the supremacy of Renee Fleming. They are both wonderful sopranos with very different voices. Fleming is a full lyric soprano and Dessay is a coloratura soprano. I wouldn't want to be without either of them."

Brilliant

M. Tietjen | Syracuse, NY, USA | 04/19/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a student at the music school which Renée Fleming attended and is worshipped, one would think that I would agree with the reviewer who compared Natalie Dessay unfavorably to her. But I've never really liked Renée Fleming; she's very good, yes, but her voice isn't distinctive enough for me to call her a "great" soprano, lyric or otherwise. Dessay's performances of these relatively unknown selections are flawless, with the possible exception of Rachmaninov's Vocalise, which is more for a lyric soprano. True, Dessay's ultra-thin tone can be piercing, but it's worth it to hear intelligent interpretations of songs that I haven't heard eight million times before. And her coloratura technique has got to be among the best in the world today."

Not a review on the cd itself....

Pheebe | Oregon, USA | 04/28/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I will start by saying that just from listening to the excerpts, Ms. Dessay has a wonderful tone quality and great control...she does make what is actually very difficult sound very easy! But basically this is a note to the reviewer who compared her to Rennee Fleming...Fleming is a Lyric Soprano, a type of soprano that has a warmer richer tone, while Dessay is a Colloratura Soprano, which is higher and clearer (and who tend to do the "vocal gymnastics")...so really its not very fair to compare two exceptional singers when they are in different vocal categories because they have completely different tone qualities...it just depends on your personal preference."