Natalie Dessay
Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande
Soprano Natalie Dessay explores the emotional and vocal world of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande with an excellent cast of fellow singers (Sung in French)
Performed by: Natalie Dessay, Stéphane Degout, Laurent Naouri, Philip Ens, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Tim Mirfin and Beate Ritter, with the Radio-SymphonieOrchester Wien, and the Arnold Schoenberg Choir, directed by Bertrand De Billy
For this production, premiered in January 2009 at Vienna’s “Theater an der Wien”, Dessay’s French and French-Canadian colleagues included stage director Laurent Pelly — celebrated for riotous comedy (notably La fille de regiment with Dessay, also a Virgin Classics DVD)
Natalie Dessay has made her reputation with the amazing heroines of Romantic French and Italian opera, but in this new DVD from Vienna she portrays a heroine who presents few opportunities for vocal display, but many for subtle characterization – Debussy’s Mélisande.
Here are some press notes:
Opera News reported: “…The magnificent Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, under Bertrand de Billy, dominated the proceedings with a rapturous performance. “
Vienna’s “Wiener Zeitung” praised Laurent Pelly for bringing “a psychological dimension to the symbolically charged language. At his disposal was an ensemble of singers capable of the most refined interpretation, above all Natalie Dessay … who portrayed her character with the most delicate nuances and verbal flexibility, encompassing both vocal radiance and broken utterance …”
Here is a Video trailer of the opera
Here is a completely different Natalie Dessay in “Glitter and be gay” from Bernstein’s “Candide”
Tags: Natalie Dessay, Debussy, Pelléas et Mélisande