Yulia Townsend - Plaisir D'Amour

[XenaAmazon]

I love her contralto voice :)

[amendonz]

SO CRAP

[swanningaround]

Yulia is lucky to have her voice as a contralto. Many great songs are set for the contralto, for example, "you'll never work alone". Contraltos are never forgotten also. Who can forget the greats like Claramae Turner and Kathleen Ferrier?

I really like Yulia's style. She sings and acts in an understated ladylike way - like they did 100 or so years ago.

[chorister51]

Beautiful song and woman.

[12harby]

She puts into perspective the overated Westenra ,If she could get into the to the top of crossoversinging she would rank up there with the No 1 Katherine Jenkins .

Like Katherine she has a lovely rich voice ,such a change from the thin voiced Hayley Westenra

[alwayswildatheart]

@12harby You can't compare sopranos with mezzos and contraltos - why even try?

[12harby]

@alwayswildatheart I was replying to somerone who said that hayley is no 1 crossover singer in the world andYulia could be no2 .Hayley is no where near as popular as Katherine Jenkins ,who has sold more albums ,whose performances gain twice as much revenue as HW ,Hayley has very little versitility and has a very low stage presence ,compared to the singer ,presenter dancer , athlete even sometimes gymnast Miss Jenkins .

A lot of the time Hayley is flat.Yulia is more like Katherine in singing

[swanningaround]

@12harby That is because:

Yulia is a contralto

Katherine is a mezzo soprano

Hayley is a soprano

All three are good singers. Depends on who you like. I prefer Yulia out of the three.

[12harby]

@swanningaround Aby one who has seen the`Katherine from theo2 `dvd will know who is by miles the best .

[swanningaround]

@12harby Having seen your channel, I guess you like Katherine the best. I think mezzos do have more options in the crossover/pop world. Most pop songs are placed at the mezzo or contralto range, rarely at the soprano. I see that Nan Mouskouri sings this song a lot also. Now she was a great singer in my view. 

[Coucoutchicou]

Really beautiful! With just the right feeling (so difficult for most classical singers who can never quite forget their technique) and such a mellifluous voice. Thanks for the posting.

[PN9K5]

What have this beautyful song whit a voix of the world to do whit this patetisk young girls? I love the song but this girl is patetisk.............

[TheChorister51]

@PN9K5 What are you talking about? What is patetisk? Yulia is a young woman not a girl.

[Jaimecavivre]

Well, she touches me when she sings that song and I'm starting to cry when I hear the way she sings.

[gassenjunge]

A great listening pleasure - I'm in your debt, Mssr Kumiak

[littleiceage]

Wow! A deeper female voice! Excellent.

[eternaly8]

Doing more research and listening to Yulia I''ve also learned to love her personality and singing!

And it's all her own style, method and talent, because she has little if any training, as I understand. If her French is not perfect at this time (as was the case with Nana Mouskouri at first also), her English is actually quite good

What a talent .. and all that emotion ... lovely ... we'll hear much more from her, I'm sure ...

[bluesummer33]

the MOST beautiful creature with the MOST beautiful voice.......I could not have said it better, Kumiak

[robinsgirl51]

We saw Yulia in concert in Greymouth, New Zealand a couple of years ago...what a voice and what a fabulous personality. We were a couple of rows from the front and Yulia came off the stage and sang right next to us. it was a truely entertaining 2 hours. Wonderful! Hope you come back to the coast soon Yulia.

[chorister51]

This singer is new to me. She is terrific.

[ndhan72]

perhaps someone can tell me if yulia townsend is from new zealand?

[Sqid101]

She was born in Russia now resident in Christchurch, New Zealand.

[Kuramochi0214]

Lovely!

[protoville]

What a beauty! I especially like her expressions at 2.26 through 2.34. I'd love to know what she was saying and reacting to. And, of course, the wonderful voice. I hope she tours North America.

[fdberg]

diese FRau hat eine einmalige unvergleiche Stimme und sieht auch entsprechend aus.

[eternaly8]

Lovely alto performance! I was also taken aback by the video, if it is of the singer .. the voice doesn't seem to match the pictures ... I'm not familiar with her .. correct me if I'm wrong

[kumiak]

Hi there! No, I put the video together out of bits and pieces - she has never sung it on video. But yes, the pictures/video is all Yulia.

[ginafaloola]

her french isn't very good. thumb me down if you want, but it takes away from the song when the language it's spoken in isn't accurate. especially classical songs.

[gerryrains]

Listen to her sing and pretend it's in Martian.

[littledagny]

Agreed. It's not awful, but it's not good. I'm not sure if it's the recording or just the tone of her voice, but all of her vowels sound like "euuuuuu".... that doesn't make it French. LOL

[kumiak]

Well, that is cool, littledagny - you don't have to like Yulia. I go by my insides, and this girl hit me hard. I have no doubt you have had the same results with artists you like. Teraa - Kevin

[Sqid101]

People complain about Vittorio Grigolo's English. So he has an accent, and his pronunciation is a bit rough at times (very rough on occasions), but as a native English speaker it doesn't bother me in the least. With a lot of sopranos and in a lot of opera the words are difficult to make out anyway. Yulia sings this very well and it would make no difference whether she sung it in good English, bad French, or Upper Eastern demotic Etrusian.

[kumiak]

Thankyou! Well said my friend! However, I am happy to let people have their say - whether I like what they say or not. As long as they don'

t get personal or stupid. Me? I love the girl

[Sqid101]

But Glyn has gotten in first, I'm afraid. Still, you are right to love her (platonically of course). It cannot be denied that she has remarkable natural talent. This is definitely one of my favourite versions of this song. A russophile friend of mine thinks Yulia's "Russian Soul" comes through in her songs. He may have a point.

[bluesummer33]

@littledagny I dont know wot you are talking about, littledagny???!!!!

[oxoxPopStaroxox]

I sang this song at my choir's Pre- Uil consert yesterday, only it was much faster and a different version of it. Same words though, nothing different.

[0135722]

I sang the chorus version of this at my school! It's SUCH a beautiful song!

[natalli30]

No sabía de la existencia de esta mezzo soprano tan joven, me gustó mucho. Buena interpretación.

[kumiak]

Hola Natalli! ¡I muy orgulloso haber presentadole a ella! Alegre usted gozó de ella.

[dinastein44]

Hübsche Stimme, ausdrucksvoll aber kein Power. Sie singt keine Oper oder? Das wäre ein großer Fehler.

[jasinhtown]

Wow das ist verdammt herzergreifend und so eine stimme traut man ihr gar nicht zu!!! wahnsiss!! gänsehaut! 5 sterne!!!!!

[flabala45]

she has a lovely voice and doesn't sing through her nose like haley westenra

[gerryrains]

I totally agree. That's one reason that Hayley has never won New Zealand's "Female Singer of the Year" award while Yulia has won it twice. Still, Hayley does have a wicked bank account.

[robaries]

I'm not even a great Westenra fan, but if she sings through the nose that must be the best way of doing it, since she has about 20 times the volume of Yulia and much more than most other popsters. Bic Runga is the only singer to have won NZ singer of the year twice, btw. It has always gone to someone who's seen to have a chance of hitting the big time, but hasn't quite done so. Westenra has received speacial awards from the PM and so on, and is scarcely eligible, anyway.

[ratws]

Göttlich. Magie. Unsagbar.

[aruntampoe]

i cannot help the tears welling in my aged eyes as this lovely girl sings one of the most touching of love songs ...the lyrics match the theme and the way she renders this melody complements it so magically....lets have more of Yulia Townsend !

[kumiak]

That is exactly what happened to me! I am just so happy that everybody is enjoying her so much. She is truely a treasure.

[erzbet07]

What a lovely voice! I'd never heard of her until doing a search on PLAISIR D'AMOUR here on YOU TUBE. Its going in my favorites pronto. Thanks for sharing (video pix were very nice too. She has a lovely smile).

[Webarton]

oh my god, your voice is beautiful and so innocent you are mad cute too!! im an instant fan

[seetjohn]

With due respect to all who have recorded this classic ballad, I think the version by Christine McKinnon tops them all.

[pellucidar]

It's such a pleasure to discover singers I've never seen of heard of on YouTube. This is another treasure.

[gerryrains]

Lovely young woman, lovely voice! What a pleasant find!

[shermanrory]

Yulia Townsend can be seen in my 48 hour film festival movie 2007 called "Fatal Symptoms"

It can be now seen on my channel.

[freddielover]

she has the most amazing voice, its so deep and velvety---thank you for posting this!!

[wittie86]

Her pronunciation is not perfect, but I loved it nevertheless!!

[trevorh321]

I never realized how gorgeous she is but we dont get to see much of her here. Thanks for posting this.

[Sqid101]

She's another Christchurch lass like Hayley Westenra ;-). Well, she was born and bred in Russia and shifted to Christchurch in her late teens, I think. She may now be in Europe.

[dashaX3]

^^ Met her today!

[selfdual]

I love her version of Bailero and Into the West!

[selfdual]

Thank you very much for posting this! I hope I can buy her new album in the Philippines too!