I came to this disc with high expectations, having experienced
first-hand how compelling a presence Natalie Dessay can be in
the opera house. In the event, however, I found this Debussy
recital rather problematic and somewhat less winning than I
was hoping for. It contains a lot of songs that the young Debussy
wrote for his mistress, the much older - and married - Marie-Blanche
Vasnier. Hers was a high voice so the songs contain a lot of
top-lying tessitura. You might think that this was right up
Dessay’s street, and on the disc her voice sounds light and
glimmering. However, right from the very first song she sounds
pushed at the top and uncomfortably strained in some of the
climaxes, a very unwelcome development for her voice. The first
song should be perfect for her, the voice gleaming as brightly
as the starry night she sings about, but the climax sounds uncomfortable
and even a little raw. This flaw reappears consistently throughout,
and I even found myself feeling nervous about the next high
climax, thus ruining that sense of the allure so essential to
this music. To be fair, it’s not as though this mars ever moment,
but it’s consistent enough to damage my enjoyment of the disc
as a whole. La Damoiselle élue is a case in point:
it contains nearly 19 minutes of extremely beautiful music,
offset wonderfully by the exceptionally skilful sound of La
Jeune Choeur de Paris, but the climax on the word “ensemble”
just misses the target. Now every time I listen to it that moment
dominates my perception of the piece and gnaws away at my pleasure
in the whole. The same disproportionate effect is felt elsewhere.
Dessay has the vocal equipment to encompass Ariel’s fairy pyrotechnics
in La Romance d’Ariel, but she lacks the sensuality
in the top register to make the high coloratura truly alluring.
Regret, too, a lovely song, is wrecked by an almost
strident tone above the stave and she isn’t at home in the nonsense
songs where the coloratura makes her voice sound brittle and
vulnerable.
There are good things elsewhere, admittedly. The composer is
at his best when he inhabits the world of half-light and whispered
suggestion. Apparition and En sourdine are
fantastically sensuous with extraordinary piano playing from
Philippe Cassard, who seems almost to stroke the notes into
being, caressing each phrase with longing. Romance
also has a lovely sense of treading the line between restfulness
and unfulfilled longing. The exoticism of the Rondel chinois
is beautiful in its suggestions of the east, pointed wonderfully
by the exotic yet understated colouring of the harp. Keen Debussians
will be particularly interested in the juvenile songs which
here receive their world premiere recordings. Le Matelot
qui tombe à l’eau is Debussy’s shortest song while Les
elves is his longest, and the others suggest the sense
of longing and suggestion that would permeate his later masterpieces.
I couldn’t shake the feeling, however, that Dessay was the wrong
interpreter for these. Debussy’s sound-world works through seduction,
but the strain on top meant that I couldn’t relax into this
set and I ended it feeling thoroughly unseduced. A partial success
at best.
Simon Thompson
Full track listing
Nuit d'étoiles [3:02]
Pantomime [2:26]
Claire de lune [2:26]
Pierrot [1:47]
Apparition [3:14]
En sourdine [2:38]
Fête galante [1:57]
Romance (L'ame évaporée) [1:49]
Les cloches [1:42]
Rondel chinois [3:07]
Flots, palmes, sables [4:49]
La romance d'Ariel [4:25]
Regret [2:33]
Le matelot qui tombe à l'eau [1:14]
Coquetterie posthume [3:38]
L'archet [2:54]
Romance [1:41]
Les elfes [7:14]
La damoiselle élue [18:41]
Natalie Dessay (soprano)