COMPOSERS: Berlioz
LABELS: DG Masters
WORKS: Les nuits d’été; La mort de Cléopâtre
PERFORMER: Kiri Te Kanawa, Jessye Norman (soprano); Orchestre de Paris/Daniel Barenboim
CATALOGUE NO: 445 594-2 1982
This CD brings together two of our time’s great voices in works of astonishing emotional range. Te Kanawa sings Nuits d’été at the original pitches. This requires upward transposition of the orchestration in two songs, but the ghostly atmosphere suffers more from mannerism and a tendency to hurry. Norman’s Cléopâtre is the most polished and convincing on record, the music of this cantata redolent with the dramatic power of later Berlioz. Julian Rushton
Berlioz: Les nuits d'été; La mort de Cléopâtre
This CD brings together two of our time’s great voices in works of astonishing emotional range. Te Kanawa sings Nuits d’été at the original pitches. This requires upward transposition of the orchestration in two songs, but the ghostly atmosphere suffers more from mannerism and a tendency to hurry. Norman’s Cléopâtre is the most polished and convincing on record, the music of this cantata redolent with the dramatic power of later Berlioz. Julian Rushton
Our rating
3
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:39 pm