Jessye Norman - A Portrait - Erlkonig (Schubert)

[keithayu]

One of the best interpretations! Love it!

[CiboCeleste]

Magnifiscent!!! She can be a child and the Evil King, amazing!!!

[ZOMGHALP]

her lower range is horrifying!!! her renditions of each voice is very clear and expertly executed.

chilling performance!! i liked the production too :)

[HahnPotterishFowlnut]

She totally owns this piece:)

[TheGustl1000]

i think its pretty well done by her!! the synchronisation isnt that perfect, but i think thats not important, only her beatiful voice *-*

[donde2k]

Jessie Norman is a Force of Nature !

[Peronell]

Oh my goodness. This is perfect, in my opinion. I could differentiate between each speaker beautifully, feel what that character is feeling...PERFECT. <3 :)

[J3ssization]

HERMOSO POEMA!!!!!!

[Farhadalmani]

Guck mal wie die Augen heraustreten!

[Farhadalmani]

ich sage nur..

...卷第四符言. 卷第五道德. 卷第六上德. 卷第七微明. 卷第八自然. 卷第九下德. 卷第十上仁. 卷第十一上義. 卷第十二上禮. 通玄真經卷第一. 道原 ...

hehe!

[neceipooh]

I think I held my breath the entire she sang that piece!!! She did great with make a huge difference between the father and son!!! her voice tonaliity even changed!!! Excellent!!

[pila406]

@neceipooh Ofcourse the tonality have changed, but also the texture. Same with the demon/spirit/whatever it is ^_^....AMAZING. Few times when she sang the father's part she sounded just like a man.

[Scandinavian92]

Great soprano!

[lovellcau]

The messed up part of this song is that the boy dies in the end by the monster :-(

[ichmagkeinemachos]

the most credit has to go to the pianist! This piece is so hard to play....just try with your right hand to hammer on your table with that tempo!

[mrbojangles671]

@ichmagkeinemachos I disagree. I can easily keep that tempo but I cannot sing with that level of commitment or diversity

[sunnie1a]

ich bekomm angst bei der

[svenskafiskar]

i want to watch it again and again!

[ElchananBenAvraham]

no matter how many times I watch this she gives me chills!

[ASAngelo]

A Queen most magical!

[KassandraSoprano]

amazing!

[tub79081]

A.m.a.z.i.n.g. I LOVE this piece and I LOVE her. She does such a great job portraying the different characters and expressing the emotions/mindsets of those characters. She sings, acts, and tells a story all in one. Love it!

[FODERAFIEND]

Completely speechless. Brava Diva Norman!

[BoriquaBoy415]

She did a very a nice job capturing the different characters in this piece, however I prefer this when it is song by a bass (the original intent)

[solpoda]

It's amazing, incredible how she can express every single word with her face, her body... God!!

[RonnieNeeley]

I LIEK SLIPKNOT THESE I R CRASY!!!!!!!!!!!

[spread1tea2]

:D

ingenious

[JoaanTv]

she is awesome. I'm from Germany, and she is better than all the other germans classical singers ! :)

[tanitity]

she is really acting well. I can understand every stroy even I don't know german

[jdubbari]

I love her facial expressions!!

[littlegibby148]

was she singing this live or pre-recorded??

[solpoda]

@littlegibby148 Jesus! Of course it's live!

[dgaranin]

Jessye Norman is great! The acoustics of this room or mikes' placement seems to be not the best, the voice is a bit distant. Her recording on CD sounds much more present. Also blue-white pattern does not support this music well that is all about dark. I would make the pattern black-gray, like a night forest, and disguise the team like wood creatures..

[theas88]

@dgaranin

oh yeah i thought the same: black/gray is way more fitting the piece.

[tervine18]

perfection

[irina4447]

!!!!!!!

[MrJameswilson101]

is Jessye German, sorry i don't know!! She's great!!

[langleywil]

@MrJameswilson101 She was born in Augusta, GA. She just speaks German, French, Italian and English fluently.

[musikphantom1881]

@MrJameswilson101 No she is American

[langleywil]

I love how she is able to represent the child's anxiety as each "Meine Vater" and how she progresses the greed that the Elk King has....fantastic.

[failsworthpole]

She belongs in the clinic for overacting (see Monthy Python)

[jdubbari]

@failsworthpole If you understood what she was singing, she wouldn't have to "overreact" but since she is speaking a language most don't understand, she must "overreact" for us to feel and sense the emotion coming through this piece. Look up the English translation and you may understand what's going on.

[choirteacher6325]

@jdubbari Overreacting? Do you mean over-acting? She is not over-acting - this is how art song should be sung - with total commitment to the text. She acts like the father, son, and the Elf King. By what basis are you interpreting Ms. Norman's performance? How can you know why she is making her interpretive choices? Have you spoken to her?

[choirteacher6325]

@failsworthpole Do you have a professional career? Have you ever presented a recital in classical art song? I question your credibility to offer an opinion.

[2009Coldmirrorfan]

I don't understand how anybody can dislike this....

[wardropper]

Quite wonderful.

Just in case anybody's interested, her pianist is calmly achieving the impossible:

Playing all the notes, playing them faster than anybody else and somehow managing to create an incredible atmosphere as well.

I hope Norman realizes how lucky she is...

[Tomeres]

Technically, there are 5, along with the Narrator, Father, Child, and "Elf king", the piano is supposed to be imitating the horse galloping.

[donde2k]

Jessye Norman = Force of Nature.

[Fehrwen]

Wow! Ihre Stimme ist großartig.

Aber am meisten beeindruckt mich, dass sie dabei mit solch leidenschaftlichen Mimiken arbeitet. Vor allem der Sprung zwischen 3:07 und 3:08 erzeugt bei mir immer Gänsehaut.

Einfach nur klasse!

@texmex0303: vielen Dank für den upload :)

[pila406]

This is a very modernist interpretation, I doubt anyone performed it the same then days.

But I love this performance more than any other!!!

[kamkuytmit]

I think her voice is perfect and her expression goes beyond perfect along the story, it is so amazing that she is able to change her face expression so fast, especially the part where she changes from the father voice to the child voice. This woman is awesome!!!

[allesfuerlau]

Part I So eine hervorragende mimische Darstellung, vom exzellenten Gesang ganz zu schweigen und ein Trottel namens Peter Kogler, versucht sich in "künstlerischer Rauminstallation"! Glücklicherweise kann man wahre Kunst nicht verhunzen, nach wenigen Sekunden zählt nur noch Jessye Norman mit ihrer Brillanz,dennoch:

[allesfuerlau]

Part II Ich verfluche die "Koglers" dieser Welt, mögen sie nach ihrem Ableben verfolgt werden, von ihren empathielosen und talentfreien"Schöpfungen"! Danke für das Video, es ist die bisher vortrefflichste Interpretation dieses Stückes, welche mir zuteil wurde.

[Jayonesgirl]

SHE HIT IT MAN, SHE hit it out of the park!!!

[CountertenorJ]

Just for the record, this piece has FOUR characters (not three): the narrator, child, father, Erlkoenig.

[eurydike]

beautiful, emotional:-)

[Federico444444]

Amazing!!!!!!!! Living Legend.

[angielove1]

Love her!!!!

[Ceciligo]

wow. those expressions...

[lekkerejongen]

HOLY WOW!!! That was amazing and terrifying at the same time. I LOVE IT!!!

[TheAaronmoses]

Great !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Batledger]

what a wonderful voice!

[manuelspcool]

wow this is so cool, i love her vertion is very Romantic

[Senhorespectador]

Terrific...

Shivers...

God bless you, Mrs. Norman!

[profTutka]

wow! she is 3 in 1! speaker, child and father

[JCYAML]

@profTutka

4 in 1

she is also the earlking ;)

[jeepgerhard212]

this is almost more terrifying sung by a woman of ueberwaeltigend!

[pbeppler]

She is amazing, enchantig. I have loved her performances for a long time. Maravilhosa mulher!!!

[glmiri]

She sings better german than many german classical singers. weird. amazing.

[eurydike]

@glmiri she pronounces quite clearly, you are right.

[allesfuerlau]

@glmiri Part II There's a strange kind of taking it for granted, that the audience will understand. I agree with you, only want to show, one of the aspects...Sorry for my lack of skills in the English language.

[glmiri]

@allesfuerlau ich meine die aussprache, und ich finde es absolut in ordnung, es als selbstverständlichkeit zu erachten, dass man sänger versteht. blurry ist klar, es ist nun mal klassik, aber es ist wirklicih fantastisch, was sie in einer fremden sprache tut. und deutsch ist schwer. cih denke aber, dass die tatsache, dass sie sängerin ist, gerade DABEI hilft.

[allesfuerlau]

@glmiri Part II What do you mean with better singing? The better pronunciation of the language?That's usual. If you sing in a foreign language, than you're paying more attention to the pronunciation for a better understanding. Even excellent singers like Jessye Norman have a kind of blurry pronunciation, when they're singing in their mother tongue.

[Musicadivina1969]

UNICA!

[chopin1949]

anyone know who the pianist is?

[hillevifan]

@chopin1949 Daniel Barenboim I think

[rufusBB]

Incredible. What a performer! She truly brings the music to life.

[lmnsinger]

WOW! Jessye Norman is absolutely AMAZING!!! what a great performance!!

[zamadeapio]

Wow... amazing!

[sildor3]

she is so ugly I can hardly watch...;/

[jaugusti520]

She makes me want to sing this and be that expressive. Although I could never compare myself to someone so brilliant. I love this!

[HeroTenor]

Jessye Norman's Interpretive skills are Enormous- she is wonderful, riveting, compelling!

Her face gleams when she does the devil- WOW!

[dejatucoro]

An opera in one lied. Ms. Norman portrays each character with expertise!!

[divasing]

WOW !!!!

[JamaBear]

she's awesome

[ArtisticBud]

it's so amazing.....

[mkay250]

What a presence!

[2111velvet]

Grandios! Und das in meiner Muttersprache ....

so überzeugend dargestellt.....höchste Kunst.

[knabebug1]

Jessye did a wonderful job! Wow! In a foreign language at that. And interpreting the meaning vocally and by expression.

Vielen Dank!

[CorrettaSinger]

Wow...Just Wow...Beautiful, powerful, dramtic...Lovely rendition

[CorrettaSinger]

dramatic* sorry, had a spell fail

[michaelflute1]

Ja, Rigtig... Just Beautiful. =)

[Bellavoce89]

Bravo omg I just want to marry this woman and just live in awe of her beauty and her dazzling music oh she is definatly one of a kind

[piratzrule]

I love how she captures all four character using her voice and her face. It's really interesting to listen to Bryn Terfel sing this. When he sings the ElfKing's verses, he puts on this extreme thin, ready voice to portray the Elf King as deceptive and devilishly persuasive. Fantastic Lied; there is so much in it.

[blichilde]

La Norman è davvero grande. Intensa,da brivido.

[rockermaus89]

Wow, ihre Stimme ist voll cool.

In der Schule mochte ich das Gedicht nicht, jetzt finde ich es toll.

Diese Interpretation ist super.

[MisterTahti]

Fuck!  best interpretation i have ever heard of this intense lieder.

[daddyleon]

I have heard one that's even better!

But I can't find it any where. But this is definitely a very close second!

[WolligesHangschaf]

Sie ist wundervoll!

Sie ist ein wundervoller Dramatischer Sopran...

Sie ist auch als Carmen absolut wunderbar, unbd als Lady Macbeth nicht zu übertreffen!!!!

[michaelflute1]

Brava!!!!!!!! Brava!!!!!!!!

[paulostroff99]

Splendid!  As good as any ever recorded! Brava!

[introduction1988]

german is such a beautiful language and she does a great job

[Runescape28]

such a powerful voice

[renato0273]

Absolutely great, I didn't know the video, only the audio recording, and I liked it a lot, but now, I love it. She's great....Was this video made for tv? Does anybody know?

[natebaglyos]

Well that was frightening.

I agree that Fisher-Dieskau does a more appropriate interpretation of this piece, but he does it for an conservative Austrian audience.

Ms. Norman's presence and sheer power of voice is incredibly effective and the sheer meaning of a Black woman singing this piece really speaks to the universal power of the music.

Brava!

[SlyFox616]

This is absolutely fantastic, Norman shows us exactly why she's considered one of the greatest opera singers of her generation!

[Aug820]

Her characterization of the erl king and son were good, but the father was way off the mark. He looked happy, not concerned.

Fischer-Diskau is far better.

[LightoYagasamiSan]

i would say the father is perfect! she characterizes exactly the situation of a father who is partly frightened but also tries to comfort his child.

you can also hear he is a little angry about the 'foolish' idea of his son at 1:18

but at 2:01 he tries to softly comfort him and gives him another distractive answer.

[Starwalker6978]

A little too operatic, yet she has enormous possibilities with her voice! Nevertheless I am very glad to have heard this...

[turandot82]

"A little too operatic"? What does that mean?

[ilovechocolatechip]

Wow ... I thought nobody could ever express the three characters of the song as well as Fischer-Dieskau, but the expression here is perfect! Incredible!

[peidaer]

@ilovechocolatechip

actually there are four... you forgot the narrator in the beginning and in the end.

;-) But no harm meant.

[BoristheONEandonly]

@ilovechocolatechip there are 4 characters....no ?

[thijssino123]

@BoristheONEandonly 3 character + one narrator

[BoristheONEandonly]

@thijssino123 of course !

[Kyrios79]

just 2 say... WOW

[MacktheNice]

That voice. The range, the colour, the expression. Supreme.

[sodiumlaurylsulfate]

BEST PERFORMANCE EVER D:

[SlyFox616]

at first I was skeptical, but after hearing the whole thing I really came to appreciate this performance

[WiseMonke]

This great lady in in the company of Flagstad... her vice and its message will live for ever!!!

[Donman5]

love it!

[animalsneedus6]

W...T...F....

[bieberlover123]

this is great! my music tescher introduced me to this song!

[dudezofamerica]

your insane......

[bieberlover123]

i no

[musicman7505]

Excellent delivery of the poem, she portrays the characters flawlessly. This is an extremely difficult piece to do, not just vocally but also for the pianist... triplets in the right hand at 156 bpm...

[ScarlettLime]

Perfect execution of characters. Ms. Norman is quite skillful and expressive. Always a joy. She has done Schubert justice . . . it is as if she wrote the piece herself.

<3

[lopper12345]

The performance is certainly more dramatic than Fischer-Dieskau's but it is certainly extremly skillful. No accent at all, for example, which is extremely difficult to pull off for many American singers.

[ArrSee]

Agreed.

Norman is also fluent in German, so that certainly helps.

[megatwingo]

5***** from Germany!

[Hasjklump]

That was amazing, speechless!!

[METALrulez92]

warum singt das ne frau??

bis auf die töchter des erlkönigs kommt da keine einzige frau vor....

ich gebs ja zu sie is nicht schlecht aber Fischer-Dieskau is einfach noch besser und auserdem is der ein mann und das passt einfach besser.... xDD

[scarpia1965]

Schau mal die Fassung von von Otter und Abbado an. Einfach genial.

[EJWYC12]

Jetzt mal echt das ist doch Mist xD

[martins797]

One word: MESMERIZING!!!! Die beste Widergabe von Schubert's Erlkoenig die ich kenne!

[changotucumano]

Mein Gott ist die gut! Sogar besser als Fischer-Diskau! Bravissimo!

[FMatt099]

Fischer-Dieskau ist auch nciht schlecht, aber ich bin von dieser Version auch begeistert

[scarpia1965]

Noch besser ist von Otter und Abbado in der Orchesterfassung.

[natebaglyos]

ist dass an der Youtube?

Normallerweise mag ich nicht gern die Orchesterfassung.

[MissLimLam]

Man the box is soooo random!!!!!!

Why'd they need to spin her around when the image already gives that impression?

DiZZY!

[zafzafellu]

Absolute perfection. ABSOLUTE.

[elysium20]

That was unbelievable...How many parts did she just do?!?!? At one point it almost sounded like she was singing a tenor part too!! That was insane!! BRAVABRAVABRAVABRAVA!!!! The goddess of song!!

[heatherlynnwilli]

this song is only one part. It is written for a male voice but Jesse does a pretty amazing job.

[tornprinze]

True, the song is written for only one voice, but the singer must play the role of the narrator, father, son, AND the elf king.

[JupiterIV]

There have been instances where four different singers have sung the four

different parts.

[domeil10]

Brava

[SsteinwayS]

AMAZING. I'm speechless.

[Mirandamoose]

Stunning, emotional, moving, heartwrenching, terrifying! This is a superb outstanding rendition of Erlkonig by the magnificent Jessye Norman. Tearjerking, I almost fell off my seat! Thank you for posting. I've been emotionally enriched! I need to lie down now in a dark room with ice on my head to recover! Delicious!

[mylittlepony34]

i heard you sing in tchaikovsky concert dvd! where have you been all my life???? you're perfect!

[tjonesmusicman]

Next to Terfel's and Quashtoff I love her rendition of Erlkonig