# Single Round: Mezzo. Berlioz-Grands Pharaohs. Baker and Norrman



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

See notes below.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I think I have a real treat for you if you can get past the fact I misspelled Jessye Norman's name, of all things!!!. This is the most beautiful part of La Mort du Cleopatre by Berlioz. This the center part of the piece is one of my very favorite pieces ever. The whole piece is around 20 min but I always sought out just this part . I have listened to this piece many many times. The music is so grand, mysterious and ominous!!!!!!!!! The unique Berlioz rhythm and the fabulous excursions into chest singing drive me wild. I was going to have 3 but settled on just two contestants. Both Jessye Norman and Janet Baker were world renowned for their Berlioz and not just anyone can sing his stuff well. I just wish I had Norman's live recording of this piece still as it was better and had even better chest singing. I have a feeling the votes will be divided. They are both really first rate. I hope you enjoy!!!!!!!!


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

I think both singers do justice to this majestic piece. They both know what they’re singing. I prefer Miss Norman’s voice - in certain passages she’s titanic, both low and high.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> I think both singers do justice to this majestic piece. They both know what they're singing. I prefer Miss Norman's voice - in certain passages she's titanic, both low and high.


I agree. Janet Baker is always so wonderful, with that glorious color to her voice and insightful interpretations, but Jessye's extra lung matches the scale of this epic piece better. She was better at some composers works than others, but Berlioz was second nature to her and it was a specialty of her career . This was early on when she was the size of a barn and her voice was at it's peak at this time with that luscious liquid vibrato. I think this meditation within The Death of Cleopatra is musically on par with anything in Les Troyens,an opera of uncommon beauty. I read the fascinating biography of Berlioz years ago and once you hear a small snippet of his music you can always pick out his compositions. Remembering back to what I read 20 years ago, composers were primarily pianists or violinists but he was a wind instrument guy, which colored his music in addition to his ancient rhythms he always used. He usually had something like an extra beat that you don't normally hear in the musical beat.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

At first I was a little dismayed by what seemed a thin, at times whiny tone from Janet Baker, a singer I've always admired. While recognizing that she was portraying the piece quite evocatively, with an imaginitive use of vocal color, I was ready to award the prize to Norman for what I rightly expected to be a more satisfying aural experience. But, having heard Norman, I can't do that. Baker draws me into the ancient, mysterious, Romantic world of Berlioz's imagination in a way that Norman, always the _grande dame,_ doesn't. It's as simple as that.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Woodduck got there first and said pretty much what I wanted to say. Norman sings with what I call her usual all purpose emotional generosity, but I hear little that is specific to the music, where Baker is much more specific in her response to both music and text. No doubt many will prefer the sound of Norman's gorgeous rich voice, but I have a feeling Berlioz would be more taken by Baker's intensity and the mysterious atmosphere she creates.

Incidentally, this is Baker's second recording of the piece, made in 1980, just a couple of years before she retired from the operatic stage (though she continued singing in recital and concert for a few more years after that). She is in fresher voice on the first recording, made ten years earlier, when she was fresh from the success of stage performances as Berlioz's Didon with Scottish Opera and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. You can hear the whole piece here, the _Grands Pharaons_ part startig at 10'14".


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Woodduck got there first and said pretty much what I wanted to say. Norman sings with what I call her usual all purpose emotional generosity, but I hear little that is specific to the music, where Baker is much more specific in her response to both music and text. No doubt many will prefer the sound of Norman's gorgeous rich voice, but I have a feeling Berlioz would be more taken by Baker's intensity and the mysterious atmosphere she creates.
> 
> Incidentally, this is Baker's second recording of the piece, made in 1980, just a couple of years before she retired from the operatic stage (though she continued singing in recital and concert for a few more years after that). She is in fresher voice on the first recording, made ten years earlier, when she was fresh from the success of stage performances as Berlioz's Didon with Scottish Opera and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. You can hear the whole piece here, the _Grands Pharaons_ part startig at 10'14".


Darn it, I should have checked with you but it didn't occur to me that she recorded it twice This is what showed up for me in my search so I went with it. Nor did I know the history of the recordings. You and your English expertise! It is too late to switch it, but thanks for posting it. Most singers would be happy to sound as good as Baker in her later recording. Woodduck often gets there before others do. It is natural you are drawn to Callas with your sensitivity to interpretations.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Two beautiful voices but one that stood out because of the rich tones and depth of chest sound was Jessye.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Seattleoperafan said:


> Darn it, I should have checked with you but it didn't occur to me that she recorded it twice This is what showed up for me in my search so I went with it. Nor did I know the history of the recordings. You and your English expertise! It is too late to switch it, but thanks for posting it. Most singers would be happy to sound as good as Baker in her later recording. Woodduck often gets there before others do. It is natural you are drawn to Callas with your sensitivity to interpretations.


Both Baker versions are superb, I think. The voice is no doubt in better shape in the earlier one, but there is an extra degree of intensity in the second (perhaps aided by that great Berlioz conductor, Sir Colin Davis), which I also like.

I prefer both to Jessye's more generalised singing.


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