- Roots: My life, my song.
This CD represents a musical journey which reflects Jessye Norman’s exciting life–from her years as a poor music student, to one of the most internationally successful and highly acclaimed female artists.
Recorded live at Berlin’s Philharmonie, “Roots: My Life, My Song” covers the history of the great American interpretive music tradition: from the spirituals and gospels, to the music of the classical composers.
Ms. Norman uses her voice as the best jazz or classical musicians do, with a sound that is immediately identifiable, but willing to do everything and anything within its means to achieve an artistic purpose. She lightens the voice to a thin, almost childlike sound, or opens up and fills the room in a wonderful warmth that you never want to end.
Let’s explore these amazing sounds: Here is Ms. Norman in Carmen by Bizet:
http://youtu.be/fWsG9TLXHJo
And next, here is something quite different: ‘Ave Maria’ by Schubert. (What a lush voice!)
Finally, to illustrate the great interpretive range of this artist, let’s listen to Jessye Norman sing Mahler’s “Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen” (I have withdrawn from the world) from Gustav Mahler’s Ruckert Lieder:
Tags: Jessie Norman, Roots: My life, my song, Mahler, Bizet, Schubert