Ms Jessye Norman's language fluency was just one of the amazing skills that propelled her to the opera stratosphere. Born in Georgia, yet when she spoke German, French, or Italian, it was as if she was born in those countries. Total immersion and preparation. Beyond extraordinary.
Mrs Norman avait réllement une mémoire prodigieuse... Interpréter un répertoire aussi vaste avec une telle maîtrise, une telle assurance et une perfection jamais démentie dans les nuances, est le signe d'un cerveau hors du commun. Quelle artiste !
Jessye Norman's recordings of The Four Last Songs were recently selected for preservation by The Library of Congress, and it's so fitting because really no others come close. The only other singer that could have done what she did with them was Flagstad, but she was already 55 when she first performed them and past her vocal peak.
For me Jessye Norman’s Vier Letze Lieder remain unsurpassed for all these years, although I love Schwarzkopf’s recording, Jessye’ will always be my favorite, her beautiful voice is amazing for Strauss! Thank you so much for uploading this, again tears are flowing down my cheeks, so incredibly happy to have found another version of her singing this live!
c'est étrange et merveilleux à la fois, mais je retrouve toujours la meme émotion de ces 4 derniers lieder de strauss en écoutant le plein chant de Madame Jessye Norman....MAGNIFIQUE...
That is actually a quite common misconception. Richard Strauss never ment those 4 songs to form a cycle, an he did NOT have Kirsten Flagstad in mind when composing them. Only shortly before his death he dedicated them to the great Norwegian soprano and wished them to be performed by her eventually. She did so, but did not find herself at ease with them and she had to skip the b natural in Frühling. However remarkable her performance may have been, it certainly is not to be regarded as gold standard for these pieces.
You mean that the songs were not written for a Black woman to sing, right? That could only be your reason, because the late Jessye Norman singing is stupendous.
