Tags
Gazette, John Dornenburg, Le Devoir, Marian Anderson, New York Times, Paris Opera, Plaisir d'amour, Sainte-Colombe, Second Empire, WordPress
Viola da gamba, Isenheim Altarpiece, Colmar (Alsace)
Yesterday, I posted a Baroque interpretation of “Plaisir d’amour” and a modern rendition, sung by Marian Anderson. Conductor Arturo Toscanini said of Marian Anderson that she had a voice “heard once in a hundred years” (Marian Anderson).
A century is a very long time, but Marian Anderson’s performance of “Plaisir d’amour” brought me greater pleasure than the more authentic Baroque version. I liked the slower pace, but particularly charming was Marian Anderson’s ability to sing the highest notes with minimum obvious recourse to the various techniques used by most mezzo-sopranos or sopranos.
This comment is in praise of Marian Anderson. I am in no way criticizing Poème Harmonique artists who are thorough professionals and perform to perfection. But how can one demand of the very best of sopranos to match a voice “heard once in a hundred years.”
The News
English The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/ The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/ The Montreal Gazette: http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html The National Post: http://www.nationalpost.com/index.html CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news/ CTV News: http://www.ctvnews.ca/ French Le Monde: http://www.lemonde.fr/ Le Devoir: http://www.ledevoir.com/ La Presse: http://www.lapresse.ca/ German Die Welt: http://www.welt.de/ photo credit: under viola da gamba, Wikipedia Micheline Walker© September 21st, 2012 WordPress composer: Jean de Sainte-Colombe (1640 – 1700) piece: Suite for solo viola da gamba performer: John Dornenburg (viola da gamba)a viola da gamba resembles a cello
Micheline's Blog 