Natalie Dessay - Pictures Of America (2016) [Official Digital Download 24-bit/96kHz]

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Natalie Dessay - Pictures Of America (2016) [Official Digital Download 24-bit/96kHz]

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Natalie Dessay, Paris Mozart Orchestra, Claire Gibault - Pictures of America (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time - 92:49 minutes | 1,84 GB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Artwork: Digital booklet

It is enough. With this message, the coloratura stepped out of the operatic carousel just 48 years old. She had now sung all that was written for her voice, and it would be time to get to new shores. This decision, which is unusual for an opera singer in the best years, is reminiscent of the great pianist Friedrich Gulda, who told the pure classical world farewell at the zenith of his career in favor of jazz and only occasionally demonstrated to his new audience what a good Mozart interpretation he still was. While one of the motifs of Gulda's departure from the classical circus goes back to the conservative rituals of the classical audience, it can be suspected that Natalie Dessays stepping out from the operatic carousel goes back to the painful experience that non-stop demanded top performance of the voice ca not be sustained in the long run. After a vocal surgery in 2002, she had to take a three-year forced pause. Such a thing no one would like to experience for a second time. As a result, she arrived three years ago to set her sites somewhat lower doing chansons and musicals. The chanson album "Entre elle et lui" with Michel Legrand from 2013 is now followed by the album "Pictures of America" devoted to the American songbook.

Now, excursions of opera singers into the popular field are not always without problems, since there is the danger that operatically guided powerful voices simply floor songs written for small voices. For example, think of José Carreras, who, even under the guidance of composer Leonard Bernstein, was unable to reduce his beautiful, powerful operatic voice in the West Side Story to the musical dimensions of a Tony. Despite all the troubles - in the rehearsals, verifiable on DVD, sparks where flying - the result fatally reminds of an elephant in the china shop. Even for former opera divas, if one wants to present popular material credibly and distantly far from being embarrassing, the voice has to be transformed first. This costs time and energy and requires a powerful portion of self-denial. And probably it is successful only if, as in the case of Natalie Dessay, one has abjured the opera.

Her new album, accompanied by the thirty musicians strong Paris Mozart Orchestra under Claire Gibault, demonstrates impressively that her operatic voice may well be transformed into a musical- and chanson-sized minor, and in the case of Dessay, deeper agile voice. The former opera diva succeeds convincingly in such transformation , without even suspecting which powerful voice is behind this singer. On the other hand, Natalie Dessay benefits from her experience as an opera singer, always keeping the voice optimally under control and thereby realizing moods and sound colors precisely in favor of the atmosphere matching the respective song.

Pictures by the American painter Edward Hopper have motivated Natalie Dessay's selection of the songs presented on her new album: loneliness and melancholy determine the basic mood of the album, which, however, also brings joy to life. Thanks to the excellent recording technique of this high-resolution download, also the smallest detail of the masterly presentation of the songs by Natalie Dessay on her album Pictures of America come into full effect.