Mad Scenes

Description

In five spectacular coloratura scenes from the 19th and 20th centuries, Natalie Dessay goes beyond the edge of sanity and touches the limits of vocal virtuosity. "You'd be mad to miss it" proclaimed the striking poster for the opening poduction of the 2007-2008 season at the Metropolitan Opera, New York. The image on the poster was of French soprano Natalie Dessay, waif-like and wild-eyed, in a wedding dress and in character as Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, opera's quintessential mad heroine. This collection features Dessay in five scenes of coloratura madness - or near-madness -- by two Italian composers, two French composers, and one (satirising) American. Soprano characters who go insane are quite a feature of 19th-century opera, providing composers with an opportunity to write virtuosic and often adventurous music to express the wanderings of the poor heroine's mind.