Natalie Dessay - Greatest Moments on Stage
List Price:
Our Price: $9.74
You Save: $15.24 (61%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Laurent Naouri, Marc Minkowski, Michel Plasson, Natalie Dessay, William ChristieBrand: VIRGIN RECORDS
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); German (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Italian (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language); French (Original Language)
Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 135 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-01-16
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Virgin Classics
DVD Reviews of Natalie Dessay - Greatest Moments on Stage
DVD Review: Delights of Diva Dessay.
Summary: 5 Stars
This presentation of Natalie Dessay achieves one thing among many others - it convinces the viewer and the listener that the actress we see is perhaps the most gifted and unique in today's world of the opera; and perhaps not only today's. Her extraordinary gifts include not only flawless, superb singing with astonishing sound in the upper range - divinely effortless, beautiful, thrilling; but also her acting - her incredible dynamism on stage, her dancing and again, simply acting her role to such an extent that one forgets it is an opera! So captivating is the impression Dessay is making...
Of all the marvelous, outstanding numbers on the DVD, with each one competing in perfection with another, I would particularly note the three representations of Olympia, her most famous aria Les oiseaux dans la charmille from Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann. I personally has never been an admirer of this opera, but seeing Natalie Dessay performing this role made literally fall in love with this aria. In two tracks on the disk, she is playing a doll - and I can argue without much risk that she is the absolute greatest performer of Olympia; in the 3rd track at Wiener Staatsoper/1996 production she is phenomenally mechanical, a true doll in bodily movements while she sings as a nightingale! The next doll is at track 10, in Choregies d'Orange/2000 production, which seems to be particularly rich, funny and opulent; here she outperforms herself, I think - the impression of a doll singing is so true that one can't believe her own eyes!
And the third representation of Olympia is track 7, where she is rather playing a young maiden, confined to a strange, sinister bizarre place, populated with Boy George,Marlon Brando and other silent characters who seem to be watching over her; it is Opera de Lyon/1993 production conducted by Kent Nagano, and the mastery of this conductor is heard through playing this piece in a very unusual manner - together Dessay and Nagano managed to give it a flair of a lament of a young girl who is not free to follow her lover. It is an amazing production, as two others above, and one can only wish to be there, alas, to see and hear it live.
Another great piece is Lucia's Mad Scene, which is excellent; the dramatism of acting, coupled with incomparable singing, is astonishing.
In Konigin der Nacht aria, Der Holle Rache from Die Zauberflote, Dessay is more virtuosic than Edita Gruberova; it seems to me that the only singer who is her equal in dazzling singing is Joan Sutherland in her best years (1950s); but any other big name Dessay beats. Now add to this amazing beauty of her voice with her phenomenal control over it her ability to dance and act, and you get a true phenomenon on stage.
This extraordinary performance is concluded with Duo da la mouche by Eurydice and Jupiter from Offenbach's Orphee aux enfers/1997; it is another masterpiece - excellent singing accompanied by the most suggestive yet hilarious acting - nothing from the modern fashion (mostly German, though) of depicting explicit heavy-duty sex on stage; no, here it is full of mischief and although quite graphic, very elegant! Such a result is much more difficult to achieve - to make the audience smile with delight and fun. This is another production one can only regret to have never seen.
The only point of not even negative, but somewhat bizarre on this DVD is actually Natalie's comments to her pieces. I am not sure what was the point of including them - she continues to act when commenting, and the whole impression is very insincere while providing no valuable information. Not that I would expect any sincerity from an actress of her magnitude, but it is really hard to believe her words about Lucia's spectacle, that she was so overcome with the role that she forgot to notice she was baring herself with losing the dress. One cannot sing belcanto and lose self-control; her talking only convinced me that at every moment she is in full and total control of her acting, and whatever she is making on stage is deliberate, as it should be.
However her comments are somewhat amusing, demonstrating once more some cultural stereotypes characteristic of a nation - if Germans can't do an opera without a gun and a suitcase, French just can't stop from sexualising everything and delving into the war of the sexes. Dessay's comments on Konigin der Nacht aria, her words "why should women have less power than men" obscure the fact that in Mozart's Austria there was at the time of Die Zauberflote a recent Empress, as powerful as any man can only dream to be, while indeed the daughter of that Empress met a very deplorable fate in France soon thereafter. No doubt French are obsessed to this day about what a girl should do, and Natalie plays into the game.
Overall, Dessay's art presented on this DVD beats any expectations, no matter how high. I expected a lot, of course, after listening to her other DVD "Le Rossignol" on Stravinsky's music; predictably, she sang the nightingale and I was struck then by the beauty of her voice. But in that DVD she does not get to act too much; here her overall talent is given an opportunity to show itself in full glory, and it shines! Certainly she is not as conventionally beautiful as Anna Netrebko, for example, but as an overall opera actress of today she is so much more superior to Anna Netrebko, Renee Fleming and just about any soprano since she sings better or just as well and can act as no one else can. Natalie Dessay is a tremendous, genius and genuine actress and singer.
A must to see and hear.
Description of Natalie Dessay - Greatest Moments on Stage
NATALIE DESSAY:GREATEST MOMENT - DVD MovieClassical Music CDs
Bestsellers in Classical Music CDs
Winterscapesby London Philharmonic
Prophetic Voice; Published: 2000-07; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $2.74
Price in other shops:
The Queen, the Bear, and the Bumblebeeby Dini Petty
Childrens Group; Published: 2001-03; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.40
Price in other shops:
Classical Kids - Beethoven Lives Upstairs CdrRelease date: 2000-04-05; Music CD
Best price: $25.98
Tchaikovsky (Life and Works (Naxos))by Malcolm Sinclair, Jeremy Siepmann
Naxos; Published: 2003-11; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $35.99
![Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS] Image](/images/Jose-Carreras-Jubileum-Concert-VHS-1584481471-X.jpg){kind=small}
Jose Carreras - Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS]Sling Shot; Release date: 2000-04-18; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $5.87
Price in other shops:
![Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS] Image](/images/Tchaikovsky-The-Nutcracker-Nureyev-Park-Royal-Ballet-VHS-156127092X-X.jpg){kind=small}
Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-09-09; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.94
Price in other shops:
![Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS] Image](/images/Lonely-Town-Lonley-Street-Sergeant-Early-Dream-VHS-1561270857-X.jpg){kind=small}
Rambert Dance Company - Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-10-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $24.99
Price in other shops:
Winter Music: Composing the Northby John Luther Adams
Wesleyan; Published: 2004-11-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $23.62
Price in other shops:
![Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] Image](/images/Puccini-La-Fanciulla-del-West-Santi-Domingo-Neblett-Royal-Opera-Covent-Garden-VHS-0769720382-X.jpg){kind=small}
Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] Image](/images/Verdi-Falstaff-Giulini-Bruson-Ricciarelli-Nucci-Royal-Opera-Covent-Garden-VHS-0769720358-X.jpg){kind=small}
Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops:
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Mascagni:Cavalleria Rusticana/ Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (Metropolitan Opera)Release date: 2011-08-16; DVD
Best price: $11.25
Price in other shops:
Jules Massenet: Manon - Gran Teatre del Liceu 2007Release date: 2008-01-15; DVD
Best price: $14.05
Price in other shops:
Bellini: La SonnambulaUni; Release date: 2010-02-16; DVD
Best price: $15.78
Price in other shops:
Offenbach - Orphee aux EnfersRelease date: 2009-11-17; DVD
Best price: $20.00
Price in other shops:
Ambroise Thomas - Hamlet - Barcelona OperaEMD; Release date: 2004-10-05; DVD
Best price: $13.34
Price in other shops:
![Italian Opera Arias [Includes DVD] Image](/images/Italian-Opera-Arias-Includes-DVD-B000X23K4S-X.jpg)
Italian Opera Arias [Includes DVD]Release date: 2008-02-05; Music CD
Best price: $24.90
Debussy - Pelleas et MelisandeRelease date: 2010-01-12; DVD
Best price: $11.01
Price in other shops:
Gaetano Donizetti (La Fille du regiment / Dessay, Florez, Palmer, Corbelli, French, Campanella, Pelly) (Royal Opera House)Release date: 2008-04-15; DVD
Best price: $15.69
Price in other shops:
Donizetti: Anna BolenaRelease date: 2011-11-01; Published: 2011-11-18; DVD
Best price: $22.46
Price in other shops:
![Natalie Dessay - The Miracle of the Voice [best of] Image](/images/Natalie-Dessay-The-Miracle-of-the-Voice-best-of-B000F3T3B4-X.jpg)
Natalie Dessay - The Miracle of the Voice [best of]Release date: 2007-01-16; Music CD
Best price: $10.49
Price in other shops: