Jessye Norman - Brünnhilde's Immolation 2/2

[@tenorschofield]

Every time I hear Jessye Norman, I touch heaven!!!, she is one of my all time favorite singers!!!. She delivers with in a easy way her powerful voice; her technique, combined with her natural vocal talent and beauty, really makes us enjoy and dream in each of her performances.BRAVAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@lenthisgoldstein9553]

She was incredible but she lives on in pieces like this. When Brunnhilde stops singing the music is incredibly stunning. Twain attended the festival in1888 five years after the master died he hated the singing but of his music he said; "Wagner's music is enough to make one drunk with pleasure it is music enough to make one scrip and staff his way around the world just to hear it.' When I hear it I'm moved to tears it is the perfect music to wrap up a 15-hour operatic marathon. RIP Jessye Norman those of us fans who love you, you'll be in our hearts forever.

[@jacson-di2di]

I can't get over her voice and how luscious it is yet so powerful. One can hear the emotion in her voice when she sings. Definitely one of the great voices.

[@MrStpendouslvforjo]

I love the way she looks! She had a gorgeous style all her own. And what a commitment to the text! I don't understand why she doesn't have the top most notes - but the rest of the voice is superb. What a stunning performance even so...😍

[@rrobicon]

Unbelieveable! This woman is an earthquake. How exciting to see her face working so hard and still looking so gorgeous. When she took her bow, my daughter was relieved that she DOES have arms.

[@Altonahh10]

I miss artists like Norman and Masur. A magic voice and a gifted conductor in unison

[@Zva26]

A commanding and majestic performance by a great Dramatic soprano who is nevertheless being stretched to the virtual limit of her vocal endurance. I'm glad that she only performed this very occasionally in concert and recorded it. It was enough --------- and fortunate for the survival of her magnificent voice.

[@domesongwish]

Still, it is exciting to hear someone doing something to his/her limit. In this case, I can actually believe that Brunnhilde is a real and raw woman. I love it.

[@donaldbowers5205]

It was never about her high notes.She did not have a great top.But the rest of the voice was pure magnificence.Almost overwhelming.She died yesterday too young at 74.She was greatness personified.

[@wTrevorh]

Another splendid performance by Jessye, who always is so dramatic in her delivery; so much passion in her face and voice.. And to the conductor, kurt Masur, a job well done here. Thanks for sharing "violinthief"

[@itgetseasierlessitry]

Callas was known to hit some harsh notes, and that raw striving for the truth of the character she was in! is the greatness and honesty I hear also in Norman. And what presence!

[@robertmarkmegna2706]

I couldn't care less if there were flat notes -the drama is first rate and every word of the text receives full and deep expression. The singing is epic and thrilling throughout! Brava! Mme Norman you are a supreme diva of the operatic stage!

[@rwagner83]

Norman's voice is beautiful, but this music of Wagner and his orchestration are superlative!!

[@pawdaw]

Jessye recorded this with Klaus Tennstedt earlier in her career- and it was a knockout, she could definitely do full justice to it. Yes the highest notes are perhaps a little beyond her by this stage- but how many sopranos have we heard wobble and shriek their way through this- without any of the range of vocal colors and imaginative handling of the text that Jessye gives us?

[@murrayaronson3753]

May she rest eternally in Valhalla.

[@itgetseasierlessitry]

When I listen o Normans voice I imagine fantastic mountains and oceans. I dive into that bottomless ocean of embraces or soar above mountains towards the heavens opening up. . Thats my personal enjoyment of her folks, so I am not going to debate the issue. She uplifts me.

[@Sir.Larselot]

Mrs. Norman was always a clever singer and she knew about her limitations. Elisabeth and Sieglinde? Fabulous. Isolde and Brünnhilde? Just this scene or Isoldes "Liebestod". She wasn't a highly dramatic soprano and even here you can see that her opulent voice wasn´t made for the permanent fanfare attacks of the top at the end, she really has to fight and sounds some raspy. Nobody can do everything and I'm glad that she knew very well what was possible and what was not.

[@brandonburrell8517]

I doubt most folks criticising the Great Jessye Norman can even sing.

[@jonhi1]

I think this piece was something that she wanted to try. through out her career she has been wise but here she may of felt like she has nothing to loose. I give her credit for thinking outside the box, and to her credit she is pulling it off very well.

[@RobertoMartinez-eb1bd]

Maravillosa Norman. Que expresion y que voz. Genial orquesta y director.

[@jordipanadesribera6890]

Indimenticabile Jessye Norman, luce di Wagner...

[@jonhi1]

She got through it...Thank God as a singer myself I know what she's going through..wow

[@andremad75]

A glorious Brünnhilde.

[@jordipanadesribera6890]

Grandìssimo Maestro Masur. R.I.P.

[@DIVOTENOR]

With whatever problems she may have had this night,had I been there I would have probably had a heart attack..I love this woman!!!

[@SymphonyBrahms]

Jessye Norman is not a mezzo. She is a dramatic soprano. And she sang Wagner roles brilliantly. I love her Sieglinde.

[@rominn2184]

Rest In Peace, angel. Queen.

[@mrboombasticx]

I love it. It's a bit fast, but I still love the fullness and richness of the orchestra.

[@ribonucleic]

I freely admit to being a Norman groupie so dismiss my comment if you like. But I still say that even her flat notes convey more emotion and grandeur than other singers' accurate ones. And my God, what stage presence! Whatever else you want to say, that did not sound like a disappointed audience to me..

[@persa147]

WAGNER Y NORMAN, LA COMBINACIÓN PERFECTA!!!!

[@tenorschofield]

100% agree with you; and by the way I am also a fan of Mrs. Norman, well said my friend!!!, Bravo!!!

[@SymphonyBrahms]

A magnificent performance by the great Jessye Norman. She should have sung Brunnhilde on stage. Her Sieglinde at the Metropolitan Opera was wonderful.

[@violinthief]

In her defense, Norman was singing a role slightly too big for her voice, and the conductor was rushing. Still, I have no explanation for why she hit so many notes on the low side. Maybe an off night - but since Nilsson, who can do much better than this?

[@fideliofidelio1222]

Your talent is just immense dear Jessye Norman ! Rest in peace !

[@kgarmaker123]

And they are kidding themselves if anyone prefers them singing this to a real soprano, with the thrust and brilliance that the music requires.

[@MartyMusic777]

She goes a bit flat on the high notes, but then , so do a lot of singers when they're trying to sing over an 80-piece Wagnerian orchestra for hours at a time. This ending is built for voices with literally ENDLESS power, and while Jessye does an absolutely marvellous job (and certainly better than I could ever hope to pull off even an octave lower), her voice isn't really suited to this role. That said, I loved her take on Sieglinde in Walkure, so maybe it was just an off night.

[@mrboombasticx]

Though it's a bit too fast in my opinion, that's still some darn graceful playing by the orchestra. I think they handle the music with just the right mix of buttery elegance and fiery voracity, the combination of which is enough to form goosepimples!

[@jordipanadesribera6890]

Farewell Jessey Norman. R.I.P.

[@violinthief]

@4lebenbaum Nilsson makes an interesting contrast to Norman. Nilsson sang consistently sharp, something she admitted. She said you should always sing in tune, but that a little sharp is better than a little flat. For perfectly accurate singing from the greatest Wagnerian soprano, listen to Flagstad. She had perfect pitch and never wobbled with intonation. Coupled with Furtwangler as conductor, their recording stands above the rest (and just happens to be on my channel).

[@wotansings]

i think you all are going to kill me but her top register sounded always a little difficult... in my sense she was (is) a mezzo with a large top register. the medium always sounded mezzo...in the 80s the annouced Isolde and even Norma, she never did it... wise decision!

[@jonhi1]

You can tell that she wasn't in good vocal form this night..It's not that she couldn't sing it and most of this piece lays within her mid range...her voice sounds congested

[@johndlabella]

Caught her on an off night, but when the voice was technically being better produced than many of the nights in the bizarrer last years. So the lower middle and the top are way out of tune, and yet I find the performance more musically satisfying than those evenings where every syllable was a separate, disconnected event. ironic if, when the music was grand enough, she scaled back her own sense of grandeur to something reasonably animal looking; and when the music was smaller than her conception of herself, she reverted to that excessive mouth opening that marred her legato and made her idiosyncratic instead of revelatory. This is all conjecture. She was a great voice and a smart artist working in a time when most things vocal are way off track, and nobody does her best work in a vacuum.

[@Twentythousandlps]

Though the music world very much wanted Jessye Norman to perform the complete roles of Brunnhilde and Isolde, she never did so. This was HER choice and it was a wise one. She just wasn't meant to. Some research indicates this is one of her last performances in a Wagnerian selection. There were problems here with the mechanism at age 50 and she was quite aware of them and so played out the rest of the decade in less-taxing music. But she could have made great studio recordings of Brunnhilde and Isolde ten years earlier, with no worries about getting through the roles, with their superhuman demands. In many ways it seemed an ideal voice for this literature. I first saw her in Santa Barbara 18 years earlier in a Wagner concert and like everyone else expected her to do the big Wagner roles in the fullness of time. Had the Levine DG Ring (a studio recording) featured her Brunnhilde, instead of just her Sieglinde, it would have raised its stature. Who wants to listen to Hildegard Behrens' Brunnhilde without seeing her acting?

[@happygucci5094]

She would have made the roles shine 10 years earlier- but her interpretation, sheer lusciousness of her voice- it was made for the great Leider…

[@angryjalapeno]

She didn't say she sang consistently sharp. She said she sometimes sang sharp. Nilsson also had perfect pitch. As much as I like Flagstad, I feel Nilsson had the more expressive voice.

[@mtrav95]

Yikes, is she flat in the final section. Doesn't diminish the beauty of her voice or how she wields it (she is easily one of the best singers of her generation). Just perhaps not her best work.

[@Alexmeister25]

I love Jessy Norman, but I do not know what happened to her this day, but I noticed she never sang Turandot and other characters from dramatic operas like Gena Dimitrova, Eva Marton sustaining a high C in Italian operas and so many doubts about her be mezzo-soprano or not and mistakes happen, we are human and I love Jessy Norman :-)

[@scargo1013]

OMG...

[@scargo1013]

Wow!!!!!!!

[@sd.m3521]

Bloody hell YES!

[@murrayaronson3753]

May she eternally in Valhalla.

[@monizdm]

Brava

[@Contrabassology]

I'm willing to overlook that for the bravura performance

[@violinthief]

Good points. However, since Nilsson and Varnay retired, there has not been a true Wagnerian soprano - Norman makes a valient attempt. Masur could pace things better. Check out my Flagstad/Furtwangler version to hear perfection.

[@violinthief]

AmericanEvita - you say you don't want to cause controversy, but you are the one injecting Norman's race into the discussion. The previous 17 comments made no mention of it. Jessye is a beautiful woman with a beautiful voice, period. Brunnhilde and Isolde are a bit heavy for her voice; her Sieglinde and Elisabeth, on the other hand, are remarkable (I heard her sing Elisabeth in person - wow!). And on Strauss Lieder, she puts most everyone to shame.

[@newhotmailit]

@Greatfan i totally agree!!! she misses the old italian bel-canto mask putting the high notes in a different place....

[@Lindow]

Ooooh, I never thought I'd see this fabulous and ever so secure singer in such trouble. She must have been sick that night.

[@Chrysothemis]

It's just not right for her, and please give her due credit for trying it out in concert and then having the good sense not to actually attempt it on stage. She was very fine as Kundry and Sieglinde, and that's what she should be remembered for.

[@whatever456]

I loved her in her day. I saw her do this with the San Francisco Symphony a year or two before this concert and she sang Ah Perfido and the Immolation and was in great voice. Here she is exhausted and FLAT. There is no question. But she is 50 and had been sining difficult music for 25 years. Though I always thought her technique was suspect I don't know about the soprano vs. Mezzo argument that has been going on around her singing forever. Maybe a Falcon?

[@wotan10950]

I remember watching on live TV and thinking, uh-oh, she's not going to make it. Although a great artist, this scene just isn't in the best part of her voice. As everyone else said, she flats every top note. But some comments here are odd: there are no high-Cs in this scene; Birgit Nilsson never sang with Lauritz Melchoir; and 'singing in the mask' is part of the problem - too much singing in the mask and you can't reach the high notes, head voice is necessary for the top notes.

[@baritonebynight]

She's in trouble here...even world class singers like Norman are human and are allowed to have less than perfect performances all the time. Even though technically she struggles, she stays in the role and gets through it with dignity. She knows she missed the high notes, but once one has started supporting too high its almost impossible to fix it in performance. A lesser singer in trouble wouldn't have finished it. Despite the flaws, she still commands the stage graciously.

[@MrBluedanube]

that's exactly how I feel also when I listen to her.

[@stillstanding6031]

This was not Ms. Norman's night. Great effort, though.

[@jonhi1]

I will double that WOW

[@mariangelsmolpeceres5609]

Quina Meravella de cantant Jessye Norman i la seva "inmolació " fabulosa" Maria Angels Molpeceres

[@jonhi1]

I guess she only scratched a few notes out of the almost half hour of singing this full aria, But was it really that bad? No NoNo I dont thinks so show me a soprano of her caliber right now who can pull it off gracefully, and fully

[@saxamaphoneguy1]

@violinthief If we are to think of Wagner, we can't forget her Elsa!!!! Her recording of Lohengrin is what introduced me to Wagner, and changed my life! She is an incredible talent. Of course, while Elisabeth and Sieglinde are more suited for her voice, I love to here the excerpts of Brunnehilde and Isolde in concert. Strauss is closer to my heart than even Wagner is, and i can say plainly that very few rival her 'four last songs'...they are absolutely breathtaking.

[@spinto12]

while the tessitura of the Immolation Scene was a bit taxing for Ms. Norman, she still manages to utilize her unwavering vocal technique and command of text to give an inspiring performance of a role that might have been. i would have loved to have heard her beautiful, rich Falcon soprano in the role of the Walkure Brunnhilde. i wish she might have alternated between that and Sieglinde. Majestic as usual!

[@Thespian01]

Who cares about any flat notes. This is Jessye Norman. Ultimately the best.

[@ichbins8532]

Ich liebe Jessye Norman, aber hier stößt sie gewaltig an ihre stimmlichen Grenzen......

[@Altonahh10]

nun ja, sie ist keine hochdramatische. deshalb hat sie die sieglinde gemacht, aber eben nicht die brünnhilde, bzw. nur in auszügen wie hier. norman konnte ihre stimme sehr gut einschätzen.

[@TheVerdiBaritone]

For those of you who heard Norman live, you know she had a huge voice. However, it did not "cut" through the orchestra. Her range was mezzo to soprano. Although she did NOT like to be characterized, this role is too high for her.

[@newhotmailit]

i think u can not compare norman to nilsson. two different types of singing. two different technics. norman at the end is a very long mezzo soprano and this aria is of course to high for her and she's fighting with her breath. nilsson is more static and sovereign over the whole aria, but finally i prefer Jessye Norman giving more emotion than every other singer....

[@4lebenbaum]

Reluctantly, I have to agree with your assessment, especially her attempts to assay the Gs and above. I think perhaps Nilsson still owns the role.

[@nathnwil]

An ok performance. I feel Wagner is a size too big for her. I never got what all the shouting was about with Norman. Her lieder was impeccable and her diction was always spot on. She simply does not have enough height in her voice to really work this piece. Yes Miss Nilsson, Varnay, and others had voices more suited to this repetoire. I get way more excited hearing Gwyneth Jones bang and knock her way through this piece then I do Norman!

[@vitaminc1248]

[@wotansings]

So listen to Helen Traubel and Toscanini in 42, to Eileen Farrell and de sabatra in 56 (i think, I am not quiet sure). They are at least as good. Or better.

[@havetohavemusic]

"seraphic transfiguration": nice. She does a good Seraph, as well as Demigods, Queens and tragic Greek heroines.

[@jonhi1]

She sounds like she has a cold....but one can imagine the sound if she did'nt

[@jonhi1]

skinboy8....I want to hear you sing it!!!

[@4lebenbaum]

Well, I love Norman -- but not in this role. Unfortunately, she is awfully flat throughout the aria. For comparison's purpose, listen to Birgit Nillson's performance with Georg Solti here on youtube, and you will understand what is quite disturbing. Just listen and compare!

[@TerrancePogue]

it wasnt the Best of Jessye But it wasnt as bad as people made it seem jeese cut her a break.... THERE IS NOT ANOTHER VOICE LIKE THIS ONE....

[@opera751]

Comme d'habitude, noblesse et compréhension, une humanité aussi qui change des guerrières spectaculaires mais glacées- ce qui n'est pas une critique du génie de Nilson et des autres! Mais je trouve pour une fois Jessye à la limite vocalement: cette tessiture l'éprouve manifestement, et elle n'est pas aidée par la direction de Masur que je trouve souvent "basique"- à l'inverse du chant de Jessye

[@willworkforwages]

What is the date of this performance?

[@dannymaestro]

Her voice is far to wide. She can´t handle it on the top notes. It´s brilliant up to a high g, but thereafter only exhausting for her. But I´m sure she was well paid for this performance and don´t forget her face expression... Birgit Nilsson was perfect in this scene as well as Katarina Dalayman is today and maybe Nina Stemme in a couple of years.

[@latinfreestylesoulvinyl7151]

poor thing... this must have taxed her out to her max...this immolation scene was too much for her... and at 3:13 she sung that supposed B flat weird..like she slid up into it from a g flat or something...

[@erinsmom0604]

Awesome even though this isn't her best work.

[@sergenovique]

miss, please, half a tone higher!!!

[@chmaunzman]

yes, unfortunately you are right. very disappointing - remmeber her stunning sieglinde?

[@skyeomania]

...alles weit unter dem Notenwert und distoniert.

[@AlexCorralejo]

You have to have secure c'''s or you are lost

[@havetohavemusic]

I'm not musical enough to comment on the faults. But she must surely have known beforehand, and I think she's a proud woman; so I think it shows respect for the audience not to have cancelled. If I'd have been there, I wouldn't have been wanting a refund.

[@christiaandhooghe]

More then 50% is moaning about the pitch by Jessye, but is it UNDER the tone? This is a recording, in a hall one does not hear it this. So I must say, live is always diffrent then recorded. Beware with critics. Jessye seems a bit dryer then ussual, but still.....she seems to be on TOP of the orchestra. I say it IS the recording.

[@silvr94]

At 3:13 she is much too flat!! Instead of a B-flat she is singing an A or something!

[@SymphonyBrahms]

I don't hear any flat notes or vocal strain. She is in wonderful voice.

[@archcorenth]

Of course, everything about Levine's Ring Cycle was awful, but I don't know what he was thinking casting Hildegard Behrens as Brunhylde and sticking Jessye Norman with Sieglinde, and forcing her to play against on of the worst tenors in music. If I were to cast my own ring, it would be Jessye Norman as Brunhilde, Waltraud Meier as Sieglinde and Levine and Behrens not in the picture. (possibly Kent Nagano conducting)

[@jasonhurd4379]

Upper register is very flat. She sounds tired. Maybe this was at the end of a long tour.

[@rometube]

translation, per favore

[@singingdude93]

I saw that Flagstad woman do it... this woman is HORRENDOUS compared to her... BLEGH!

[@leonardilaurenti9819]

A listener critiques the a performance and becomes the critique grandiose! Oh she sounds flat throughout...Listen to Birgit Nillson ..Blah..Blah. I smile and sometimes laugh with glee at the IGNORANCE of THOSE WHO THINK THEY KNOW. First of all, it behooves everyone to clearly understand that opera singers follow the lead of the conductor/ the orchestra. 99% of the time, it is THEY who are at fault during the process of transposition. Most "nickel" critiques can't even take a deep breath!

[@godivapaw]

I disagree with you Viva! I think that even though I do not see Jessye as Brunnhilde, I do see her as a Wagnerian soprano. What she may lack in piercing tone (she has more of a bronze glow to her voice) she makes up for her overwhelming stage presence!

[@nwdixieboy]

She sings beautifully here but only because she cheats shamelessly on the high notes. You don't notice it so much if you aren't familiar with the piece as she sings harmonically flat rather than out of key flat. Most of the high notes werre 2 to 3 notes flat, whichever sounded better with the accompaniiment. When she repeated this performance in Seattle later it was not so successful. She was a mezzo by this point in her career but not willing to give up the diva points you gain by being a soprano , I suspect. I find it strange that she wore the same outfit when she did the Immolation Scene in Seattle on PBS at a later date.