Dietrich Fischer- Dieskau . Beau Soir . Claude Debussy

[Valentin0003]

Merci. Très belle interprétation. Parfaite maîtrise de la langue et de la prosodie. Quelle douceur de prononciation pour un germanophone !

[tuberobotto]

In my most modest opinion, it's not the best Dietrich rendition quite unlike when i heard him singing Mahler's song of the earth. Perhaps it might be the language. French is one of the most uncomftable languages to sing along with German. The French nasal and the German asphyxiated consonants are hell! i am not a singer but I was so overjoyed to get thru the German words in Schubert's "Du Bist Die Ruh", in my own small world it's an achievement.

Anyway, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a true icon.

[larrylgray2]

You say he's heavy handed, yet he has a great rich voice. Seems these are somewhat contrary comments. Perhaps it's just that we're all used to hearing a woman sing this, so when a deep baritone sings it, it seems strange. I'll be singing this in a competition in April and hope I can do near as well. As for French, almost nobody says/sings it perfectly unless they are native born, ya think? :-)

[CateValois]

@larrylgray2 I don't think that. The problem is the french ''R'' , for people from other countries, but the pronunciation of ''beau'' or ''cependant'' are ''speakable'' for almost everybody who have ''musical ear''. Here it's not even near to a ''perfect'' pronounce... Anyway didn't sin it bad, at all! Sorry for the intromission. Ah, anyway, i think that he's heavy handed on that verse too... And it's not just because he's a man, renee fleming is heavy handed too! :D ( in my modest opinion).

[CateValois]

@CateValois And sorry also for my english! :)

[ZeekWolfe1]

@CateValois Dein Enlisch ist gut. Aber, Renee Fleming ist nicht 'heavy handed' in diese Lied.

[stevevandien]

DFD was a great singer, and my French is far from first-rate. But having listened to some native speakers en francais performing this great melodie, it seems to me that DFD's French was a little iffy. He encompasses the song's mood very well, however. Other opinions?

[caraphyllis]

@stevevandien you're right - his vowels are iffy, and i'm not thrilled with the choppy, heavy handed way he sings "cependant qu'on est jeune et que le soir est beau," which should be filled with longing and dreaminess...

but his voice is still a great, rich voice

and of course, the song itself is an almost otherworldly masterpiece