Natalie Dessay and Laurent Pelly disappoints in Pelleas and Melisande

Pélleas and Mélisande. DVD, 2009. Theater an der Wien. Production: Laurent Pelly. Conductor: Bertrand de Billy.Cast: Natalie Dessay (Melisande), Stephane Degout (Pelleas), Laurent Naouri (Golaud), Philip Ens (Arkel), Marie-Nicole Lemieux (Genevieve).

How does one evoke the otherworldly ambiance of Pélleas and Mélisande? Not easily and I have yet to see a staging which does full justice to the work, though a few do come close.

The french director Laurent Pelly is well-known for straightforward and fast-paced productions such as  Donizetti´s Filledu Regiment and Hänsel und Gretel, both released on DVD. Not an obvious choice to stage an understated, introspective work such as Pélleas and Melisande. Thus, it is not unsurprising that Laurent Pelly seems a bit at loss with this opera that thrives on understating rather than the opposite. By Pelly´s usual high-paced standards, however, the production really is very tranquil. Departing from realism, he has created a rotating stage containing a mix of columns, rocks and the occasional chamber, in effort to create an alluring, ambiguous environment. However, for me, the allure remains absent throughout not the least due to Nathalie Dessay´s Mélisande.

No wonder Laurent Pelly is Nathalie Dessay´s favourite opera director, as they share a lot of qualities: She is a straight-forward, face-paced singing-actress and the role of Mélisande lies relatively well for her with much beautiful singing in the middle section,of her voice. But she cannot hide that her upper register is in ruins and whatever her qualities, understatement and allure are not her strong points. Just in recent years I have heard much superior Mélisandes in both Copenhagen (Elisabeth Jansson), Berlin (Magdalena Kozena) and Paris (Elena Tsallagova). And then there are the ones on CD such as Frederica von Stade, just to mention one.

Stéphane Degout with his rich voice and wonderful introspective way is the ideal Pélleas, but he is not helped by Laurent Pelly´s production.

Best is Laurent Naouri Native French-speakers in major parts. Best are Laurent Naouri (real life husband of Natalie Dessay) in excellent voice with an sufficient underlying menacing air of both menace but also desperation to him that one feels with him and the unfortunate choices that he makes.

Bertrand de Billy captures the moods well but again I have both heard and seen far better in recent years (Simon Rattle, Philippe Jordan and Pierre Boulez on DVD).

I don´t believe the market for Pélleas DVDs has been exhausted with this release. In fact, one of the best stagings I have seen was that of Robert Wilson in Paris a couple of years ago – a static, beautiful staging capturing the moods almost to perfection and with the wonderful Elena Tsallagova as an otherworldly Mélisande matched by Stéphane Degout as Pélleas. Hopefully this will be released on DVD at some point.

Nous sommes venus ici il y a bien longtemps:

The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average):

Natalie Dessay: 3

Stephane Degout: 4

Laurent Naouri: 4-5

Marie-Nicole Lemieux: 4

Philip Ens: 4

Laurent Pelly´s production: 3

Betrand de Billy: 3-4

Overall impression: 3

natalie dessay and laurent pelly disappoint in giulio cesare

Giulio Cesare, Opera Garnier, Paris. 2011. DVD. Production: Laurent Pelly. Conductor: Emmanuelle Haïm with Le Concert d´Astrée. Cast: Natalie Dessay (Cleopatra), Lawrence Zazzo (Cesare), Varduhi Abrahamya (Cornelia), Isabel Leonard (Sesto), Christophe Dumaux (Tolomeo), Nathan Berg (Achille).

Laurent Pelly is the director of this Giulio Cesare from the Paris Opera, and from him one would expect a fast-paced staging with lots of action and entertainment. Not so difficult with Giulio Cesare you would think. Just pick any period of war, plot Cesar and the Egyptians as the adversaries, et voila!

So perhaps someone may care to explain why Laurent Pelly think it is a good idea to stage Giulio Cesare in the reserves of an Egyptian museum, where the statues gradually comes to life and museum workers enter and exit the premises all the time, pusing ancient statues around and by the end of the day (opera) leave with their girlfriends? Though, stylish, the personal relations between statues equals zero, which admittedly takes away a lot of otherwise inherent drama in what I find to be Händel´s best opera. And where is the personenregie, that Laurent Pelly is well capable of and that we have seen in several of his other productions? Additionally, for inexplicable reasons, the museum reserves fills up with renaissance paintings in Act 2 and is conversed into some sort of carpet shop for Act 3.

This was Natalie Dessay´s debut as Cleopatra. Natalie Dessay, as especially the French will know, is a very charming and honest woman, and I would love to be able to write that she triumphed as Cleopatra. I suspect much of the French audience at the Opera Garnier felt the same way.

However, you will have to be a fanatic fan and/or close friend/family member to think that she is a fine Cleopatra. Yes, she has a few beautiful notes in her middle register, but essentially it is impossible to hide that the rest of her voice is in ruins and cannot sustain even the slightest pressure. On top, her overacting seems hysterical. She is scheduled to sing this at the Metropolitan Opera in David McVicars production late this spring. To pull this off in the huge Met auditorium, she will need more than good luck. Frankly speaking, if I were Natalie Dessay I would consider pursuing the spoken theater career she has previously spoken about. Now seems to be a good time, as she is still loved by the public and she will be remembered for the wonderful voice she had 10 years ago and not for the ruin it has become.

Best of all was probably Isabel Leonard, who really has a wonderfully fluid voice, reminding me of Frederica VonStade. For some strange reason there were a lot of stage activity (workers tumbling with statues etc.) during virtually all of her arias.  Lawrence Zazzo has sung and is still singing Giulio Cesare everywhere, He clearly knows the part and acts well, but he is a small step below some of his contestants in terms of both beauty of tone and characterization, most notably Andreas Scholl and David Daniels.
Varduhi Abrahamya has a beautiful voice as Cornelia, but fails to convey the strength of character. This could well come, however, as she seems very young.

Nathan Berg, though in fine voice, scores about 1 on a sexual menace scale from 1-10. 

Tolomeo must be something of a signature role Christophe Dumaux, and as on previous occasions, he sings it well, but I lack some power and strenght of characterization. Him being small, very slim man probably does not help either.

Finally, Emmanuelle Haïm is a real winner. Her style may seem a bit controversial, but it works and there is an excellent drive in her performance. Apparently she is responsible for many of the ornamentations heard, which work well as well.

Natalie Dessay, Se pietá:

The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average):

Natalie Dessay: 2

Lawrence Zazzo: 3

Varduhi Abrahamya: 3-4

Isabel Leonard: 5

Christophe Dumaux: 4

Laurent Pelly´s staging: 3

Emmanuelle Haïm: 5

Overall impression: 3

natalie dessay - le miracle d´un voix

Natalie Dessay: Le miracle d´une voix - Greatest moments on stage. Further information here.

For Natalie Dessay, opera is as much theatre as music, clearly evident in the 13 video clips of virtually all her major roles 1993-2003.

There is something so very French about Natalie Dessay (who is from Lyon, which may explain the many clips from the Lyon Opera), who appears to be very straight-forward and honest as well as funny. The only problem with this DVD is that it appears rather disorganized - ideally I´d have preferred the clips to be chronologically organized, instead of mixed in no apparent pattern. Natalie Dessay gives a short (optional as well as excellent) introduction to each piece.

Some arias appear in several versions, such as two times Zerbinetta "Grossmächtige Prinzessin" and three different versions of Natalie Dessay´s early calling-card Olympia´s aria from Offenbach's "Contes d'Hoffman."

Even for those not particularly interested in Natalie Dessay, this DVD provides a very interesting documentation of her vocal development, with particular reference to her vocal troubles including surgery on the vocal chords, beginning 2002.

We hear the lush, unrestrained beauty of her voice in the early 90´s (1993 Frühlingsstimmenwalzer (Vienna), Olympia (Lyon), 1994 Les enfants des sortileges (Lyon) and Magic Flute (Aix)).
It is obvious that Natalie Dessay´s voice has lost much of it´s glow at the end-90´s with a drier sound. This development is already audible in the excerpts from the 1996 Olympia (Vienna State Opera) and continues with the 2000 Orange Olympia, 2001 Salzburg Zerbinetta, 2002 Lyon-Lucie, 2003 Barcelona Hamlet and Paris Zerbinetta 2004. In the middle of which she had surgery on her vocal chords.

Her highest post-2000 notes are often mimicking screams, and even the way she sang in 1995 appeared unhealthy. That said, she was in splendid voice for her 2003 Ophélie, complete with blood dripping down her dress. And dramatically, she seems to continue to grow. 100% committed acting she has always provided. You may like her or not, but she is certainly not boring.

Personally I prefer her in the "lighter" repertoire, such as Zerbinetta, though there is nothing light or comical about her 2001 Salzburg Zerbinetta (Wieler-Morabito´s production) in which Zerbinetta is a disillusioned prostitute working from Harlequin. Or about the 2003 Paris Zerbinetta, a deep-tanned tourist on a Greek island.

As evident from the video clip, Natalie Dessay was Queen of the Night in the Benno Besson Magic Flute production in Paris 2000, but unfortunately she did not perform the role on the recently released DVD of the production..

This DVD is highly recommended.

Below, a curiousity not from this Dessay DVD. Natalie Dessay´s debut as Olympia in Roman Polanski´s Hoffmann production, Paris Bastille 1991, which kick-started her career:

The bottom line:

Overall impression (scale of 1-5, 3=average):

5

DVD: Fille du Regiment with Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez

La fille du regiment. Royal Opera, London 2007. Director: Laurent Pelly. Cast: Natalie Dessay, Juan Diego Florez, Felicity Palmer, Alessandro Corbelli. Conductor: Bruno Campanella. Further information here.

This is a DVD of the same La fille du regiment production shown earlier this year on the HD telecast from the Metropolitan Opera. I´ve written in details on the HD transmitted performance here, all of which (with a few exceptions) also applies to the DVD, and need no repetition.
The most notable exceptions: As the Duchess of Krakenthorp the vastly irritating Marian Seldes of the MET was replaced (or rather it was the other way around) by the much superior Dawn French. But most importantly Bruno Campanella brought much more life to the score than Armiliato did at the MET.
Furthermore, Natalie Dessay seemed in better voice, though I still have the impression she is tearing rather heavily on on her vocal reserves. Juan Diego Florez was the same. At least to a non-Florez, non-belcanto afficionado as myself..

In brief, I found this production both funny and inventive. Most, if not all of this DVD may be seen for free on YouTube.

Natalie Dessay, Chacun le sait:

The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average):

Natalie Dessay: 4-5 5 (see comments)
Juan Diego Florez: 4-5 5 (see comments)
Felicity Palmer: 5
Alessandro Corbello: 5
Bruce Campanila: 4-5

Laurent Pelly´s production: 5

Overall impression: 5

DVD: Natalie Dessay as Manon - with Rolando Villazón from Barcelona

Manon. Gran Teatro del Liceu, Barcelona. 2007. Director: David McVicar. Cast: Natalie Dessay (Manon), Roberto Villazón (des Grieux), Samuel Ramey (Comte des Grieux). Conductor: Victor Pablo Pérez. Further details here

Renée Fleming, Natalie Dessay and Anna Netrebko now appear as Manon on DVD - all superb in three different productions, that seem tailored to the individual strenghts of each soprano.

David McVicar has cimply created a superb production of Manon for the Barcelona Liceu, which brings out virtually all the strenghts of Natalie Dessay.

David McVicar captures the spirit of 18th century Parisian decay as I´ve never before seen it on stage. With the sets looking most of all like a Spanish bull ring, the atmosphere of smokey French backyards is unbeatable with all characters wearing realistic (as opposed to sumptuous) period dress. David McVicar clearly intends this a condemnation of 18th century French high society.

This hazy, and ultimately very French environment, seems perfectly suited to Natalie Dessay´s petite Manon: Vocally her top may be rather thin and occasionally she tends to push for the notes to the point of almost shrieking and she is probably over-challenged vocally as Manon. But as an actress portraying the development from naive country girl via femme fatale to the grown-up woman in the end she is unbeatable.
And in Rolando Villazón she has the ideal stage partner, showing just as superb chemistry here with Dessay as with Anna Netrebko in the Berlin Manon DVD. Again, Villazóns neurotic hypomania seems entirely believable characteristics for des Grieux. Vocally he may not be entirely on top of his game though. Unfortunately it is far too late for Samuel Ramey to make an impact as Comte des Grieux.

For those looking for a sumptuous, traditional Manon production, this is NOT it. But it is highly recommended as one of David McVicar´s best stagings and superb as operatic theater. Extensive rehearsal footage is provided with the DVD.

Natalie Dessay and Rolando Villazón - St Sulpice scene:

The bottom line (scale of 1-5, 3=average):

Natalie Dessay: 4
Rolando Villazón: 4

David McVicar´s productioin: 5

Victor Pablo Perez: 4

Overall impression: 4