Connais-tu le pays où fleurit l’oranger?
Le pays des fruits d’or et des roses vermeilles,
Où la brise est plus douce et l’oiseau plus léger,
Où dans toute saison butinent les abeilles,
Où rayonne et sourit, comme un bienfait de Dieu,
Un éternel printemps sous un ciel toujours bleu!
Hélas! Que ne puis-je te suivre
Vers ce rivage heureux d’où le sort m’exila!
C’est là! c’est là que je voudrais vivre,
Aimer, aimer et mourir!
Connais-tu la maison où l’on m’attend là-bas?
La salle aux lambris d’or, où des hommes de marbre
M’appellent dans la nuit en me tendant les bras?
Et la cour où l’on danse à l’ombre d’un grand arbre?
Et le lac transparent où glissent sur les eaux
Mille bateaux légers pariels à des oiseaux!
Hélas! Que ne puis-je te suivre
Vers ce pays lointain d’où le sort m’exila!
C’est là! c’est là que je voudrais vivre,
Aimer, aimer et mourir!
„I am agree her technique and interpretation is unique. Brava Magdalena!“ Sometimes the comments of enthused fans are more entertaining than the video/audio itself…
Right – unique. I never heard this „simple“ and charming aria sung more monotonously. From the first entrance on she sounds jittery and breathy – much air, little sound. And this kind of attacking the notes, when the note is not hit right in the middle from the beginning, but takes some instances to swing into it, is something that makes me sick. – Something that many singers in popular music, especially musical do – and also the „baroque“-singers. The voice is airy, pale and colourless, without a face and without character. A small voice with a pretty timbre which has nothing or little to express. Where she cannot just flow with the melody, but has to „say“ and convey something, she is totally blank. „Où rayonne et sourit, comme un bienfait de Dieu / Un éternel printemps sous un ciel toujours bleu!“ passes absolutely without any expressiveness. No “playing” with the text. Not even trying to get the their meaning. Just singing the music. The second verse offers little variation. All she offers as a nuance is some sighing. At the very end on the final „OUII, c´est là!“ she tries to do a tiny crescendo on the „OUII“ – and fails. The whole thing is just dull, superficial and boring.
Connais-tu le pays – Karin Branzell
Now, Branzell may not be the most charismatic singer either (at least not in this piece), but at least it´s a big, beefy voice you can bathe in. She beautifully sizes down this big voice to the required intimacy. Some notes may sound a little stiff notes due to the little space in the tiny recording studios at the time, where the big voices had little space to expand. She only sings one verse so opportunity to seek for variations in the second one. She may not be the most expressive singer here, but at least she conveys an atmosphere. For charm and style one must go to Vallin, Bori or Farrar, but as far as voice and especially the singing and handling of the proper voice is concerned these two are worlds apart.
la differenza è una sola sempre la stessa, ossia la signora Branzell wagneriana in primis sapeva come si cantava e dove andassero messi i suoni al centro della voce non era come l’avvenente signora rattle una improvvisata e aggiungo con la concorrenza in ogni paese non poteva permetterselo!