Natalie Dessay sings I Vespri Siciliani

[MrHbc3]

Natalie goes on getting roars of applause, singing everything under the sun, ... it must drive the trolls crazy. Or maybe they don't know anything about her, or don't care, but love being able to insult people and see their drivel in print. I really like and enjoy almost everything she does.

[DiomedesDioscuro]

Para haber cantado esto, Dessay debe estar mal de la cabeza. Y no es ni la primera ni la última vez. Convengamos igual que cuando canta cosas que se adecuen a su vocecita, puede ser una excelente intérprete. Eso dicho, esta interpretación es una obscenidad.

[GoldenAgeSunshine]

Complètement à côté de la plaque!

[zamyrabyrd]

Dessay could have joined the select circle of Operatic Muses in Mount Olympus if she didn't just rely on her natural abilities to get by as she does in this recording which is fine but not great.

Callas, Schwartzkopf, Moffo and Sutherland started from natural talent but added assiduous labor. Instead, Dessay scooped when she felt like, slowed the tempo to accomodate her entrances, didn't bother about uncovering high notes. The latter might have even added a few more years to her career.

[invoicewithlove]

she says the wrong words

[antequem]

Piteuse interprétation aux tempi négligés d'une chanteuse à la petite voix qui, l'âge venant, essaie d'élargir aux rôles coloratuta son répertoire.Dommage que sa voix ne s'élargisse pas en proportion...

[Yodaandtheforce3000]

Awful ! ! !

[Schwanengesang415]

@Yodaandtheforce3000

yes, you are indeed.

[Lirico96]

Acuto eseguito malissimo sul finale ... sembrava che avesse una fretta ....

[vocedelaluna]

June Anderson, voix relativement légère mais tout de même beaucoup plus corsée que celle de Dessay, a au moins le mérite de nous proposer l'original en Français!

[vocedelaluna]

Le type même de voix légère, pauvre en harmonique, aux aigus hasardeux qui se fourvoie totalement dans un air qui exige tout au contraire une grande voix riche apte à la colorature! A oublier très vite! Pour se faire une idée ce qu'exige le rôle de Elena réécoutons les divines Callas, Gencer, Cerquetti et autre Sutherland!

[AliciaDupres]

Poor interpretation. 0.57, 2.21, 3.34 even horrible.

[soleimusik]

Increíble Dessay!!!!!

[CantoSemper49]

WOAH Where did that lower chest range come from!?!?!

[Alexesandryne]

Ouain, son contre-mi final est assez cacaoutteux :S.. il semble un choix derniere minute, ou mal préparé..

[enrym86]

io non la trovo tanto pessima... anzi!!! ;D

[carlissima28]

not appropriate for her type of voice

[anfiosso]

Pidò doveva essere ubriaco. Non ho capìto che suono è quella specie di sirena dell'Ansaldo poco prima dell'ultimo ta-ZUM! Nel complesso, è veramente ributtante. Odioso, proprio.

[badubasso]

This is not her song.

[zamyrabyrd]

First of all she slows down the tempo which for a dance rhythm is already wrong. Her trill at 0.58 is tasteless, plus the indifferent intonation just about everywhere with a crowning strident last note. All she has had to offer the public is a thinner-than-thou appearance. Otherwise, her approach to the art of music is indifferent at the least. Her constant sour vinegar expression shows that she doesn't even enjoy singing--an anti-singer, if anything.

[pointemeout]

@zamyrabyrd

an anti-singer:

that's one way to put it. oh man...that final note is the best "is she serious?" moment!

she's Met Made..or so it seems.

[eugenelohks]

the low notes are surprising good actually... altho the high E isn't

[raigekimaru]

all comparison aside (we all know Dame Joan dominates this bolero) a fine performance =)

[LelioRiccoboni]

I think we have to consider that she's not singing the whole role of Elena, but only one aria, which is in her tessiture. She does quite well, even if the low notes are not so beautiful... And yes, the intonation at end is something ugly.

There are good and bad things, but even Callas had some defects...

(Oh my English is almost as horrible as the E at end...)

[skitzo429]

better than one might expect for her voice type, but certainly not her role

[asdfopera]

Nice live performance. The size of her voice and the temp don't matter because this was for a concert. Good images too. Thanks.

[vivacecilia]

The tempo isn't ok!!!

She's voice is small for this aria !!! And i don't listen the elena's carachter!!!

[Aanarhiaa]

She had a bad singing day that time...

[killerbunny123123]

no no no no no.....do you hear the applause? people are saying: GREAT! so shut up

[mrlammermoor]

@killerbunny123123

What a stupid argument... of course only people who like a singer go to his/her aria concert...

[killerbunny123123]

@mrlammermoor exactly, thats the very point....im not saying that this woman is flawless, but what i mean is that she's a head and shoulders higher singer (and actress) than at least 80% other singers we see here...

[Rcoppin91]

@mrlammermoor Not really, what about all of the people with subscriptions to a concert series? What about a singers first performance?

[NemanjaFan]

Povero Verdi

Dessay est une misère vocale et musicale ... Quelle époque ... Pauvres Maria, Anita, Lejla, Renata, Joan, Beverly, June, et les Autres ...

[TourneledosRossini]

ce produit médiatique (à rapprocher des Ajax et Paix citron) fait jouir les incultes !

[tklogan11809]

poor Dessay she thinks she's Joan Sutherland.

[killerbunny123123]

why wud she want to be like joan? dessay is so much better than her when it comes to coloraturas!

[tklogan11809]

hahahah you're funny, do you do birthdays?

[tklogan11809]

I meant that you're a good comedian!

[jacekpta]

I love Dessay

[tazkorinthos]

maria callas forever...she is art....

[UrsulanChild]

Natalie--- is this really you? Wassup with the final E? Where have the amazing days of that Lakmé recording gone? Wow...

[eugenelohks]

I have never been a great fan of hers... her coloratura technique, admitted, is faultless, but she doesn't have very much dramatic capability. Plus here she's sometimes off with the orchestra... useless conductor!

[thomastmwc]

this execution is HORRIBLE, listen to Dame Joan's studio version, please mates.

Stil......... I love Dessay :)

[mariokalogeropoulos]

Didn't like her final high E.

[jamesjmertins]

This is so wrong, I admire this soprano but I find this something not to listen to again. What was she thinking. The Conductor should be shot. It's not Offenbach.

[evita010]

Natalie Dessay is a colorotaura but her voice not is for this role.This is Verdi!!!!

[flouraki]

so great! :)

[tomaat101]

ohmygod

how beautiful :O

OMG OMG OMG

YOU ARE SO SEXY, HOTTIE.

joke.

kiss x

[Destatur]

i like more Angela's performance...i didn't find it on youtube...but i have it in my pc...

[seoulsugar2008]

On which CD of her is this aria?????????

[DessayBestSinger]

This one is a concert, but you can have it with Cd is "Airs d'opéras italiens", you must buy the Cd and open a `rivate website with it, ottherwise you won't have the aria

[1900stan]

The great mystery is how and why the greatest French singing actress of her generation comes to be singing an aria from Les Vepres Siciliennes - an opera written in French for the Paris stage 150 years ago - in the Italian translation. The high note at the end of this aria is not typical of the role of Helene. It would be fascinating to hear a complete version of the opera with Dessay in this role.

[BernardProfitendieu]

pretentious comment (but that's no great mystery)

[moghedien13]

Very good!! Maria Hciara is another one who si wonderful with tis aria.

[Crindoro]

considering her voice type she does it quite well, I only hope she never tries Turandot or Norma...

[gtelloz]

she wont of course...

[sopran21]

don't worry she will never sing those parts.

she said that she would like to play tosca but she knows she can't.

[altodivo]

What I want to know is why she has never sung Lulu. She is always claiming she is an actress...and that is the ULTIMATE acting role for a singer with access to good high notes. Why no Lulu...

[mozart200657]

She will try with Salome...

[LilMack549]

She's actually said that she tried to learn Lulu and it was taking so long and she decided that she wouldn't be able to learn it well. I still love her.

[Drelnis]

@Crindoro She knows better than to try Turandot, Norma, Armida, Donizetti queens, or Lucrezia Borgia for sure. Although it'd be great to see her try the prayer from Maria Stuarda. Actually I can just imagine her voice singing a great Stuarda, just with her piercing French power :D It'd be great for her too, all the drama in the confrontation scene. How awesome it'd be - figlia impura di Bolenna! coming from Dessay!

[eugenelohks]

@Crindoro I know... these coloratura sopranos who 'try' Turandot (and there are quite a few!)... don't they realise Turandot is for Wagnerian soprano?

[osvaldito55]

Considering that Elena is a role for a dramatic coloratura soprano, Dessay acquits herself fairly well. I'm certain she could not carry this role onstage, but the aria fits her well as a concert piece. This may not be her best work, but she sings this aria better than most sopranos of her voice category.

[gtelloz]

i agree.

[operaman2000]

Does one blame her, or the conductor for this travesty? Bad, bad bad. Very disapponting. Sad, sad, sad.

[33blueberries]

The composer Reynaldo Hahn says some interesting things about the decline of singing in the book 'On Singers and Singing'.

[branko1b]

whatever is it he says - i agree with our comment

[Astrofiammante]

I guess Verdi is not for her....

[Sesto73]

The intonation at the end of the arie (E) was horrible! :-(

[gtelloz]

Maybe her voice is not suitable for this. But why really not? i like it very much! is a different reading.

[agnellodei]

After her past vocal problems it seems her voice dropped a bit, she lost the stratospheric notes but she still has the high E and gained low A and G!

[Klassizismus]

What are some high notes, if you have a voice unsurpassable beauty and an elegant phrasing that accentuates and reflects so many emotions? What I really like about the ARTIST N.Dessay is the way how she shows us the meaning and importance of the words - like Callas in the past. But also Natalie's purity of tone is a phenomenon of our time. The fact, that she lost some of her high notes is IMO a "side effect", because her vocal range has widened and can now be considered as a lyric soprano's.

[agnellodei]

Yeah but was really gnarly to hear those awesome bad ass high notes! She's like a big inspiration for me and I'm a high tenor!

[amneris54]

c un air que j'adore

[gypsycafe]

Sounds terrific!