"...easily worth the price of admission for Natalie Dessay’s rendering of the title role. [Dessay] owns a flexible, controlled soprano that seems to have limitless expressive possibilities. Her high notes are thrilling ... Gergiev leads stylishly and energetically. The reproduction of the exotic glass harmonica during Lucia’s famous ’mad scene’ is exquisite"
Absolute Sound (USA)
"Natalie Dessay ... doesn’t create drama with the weight or the timbre of her voice, but rather with a superior creative power. The maidenly light colour, the fast vibrato and the eminent focus of her voice build the basis of an interpretation which exposes the fragile and psychologically precarious Lucia from the begining ..."
Das Opernglas (Germany)
"...this remarkable music-making from the orchestra, coupled with some impassioned singing from the star principals and the chorus ... The highlight of this recording is Dessay’s mad scene, including the original chilling glass harmonica accompaniment, played by Sascha Reckert ..."
Limelight magazine
"Breath-taking Gergiev! We were slightly waiting to ’catch him out’ with this opera which in many ways is not familiary territory for him. But which conductor has given Donizetti’s orchestra such colours and such life? ...One feels the conductor’s hand in the energy that animates the soloists, and even more so in the coherent strength of the ensembles (the chorus is marvellous) ... the Russian ’cast’ is excellent."
Classica (France)
"Dessay’s performances have always offered ample rewards on CD ... In the Mariinsky recording we can once again relish Dessay’s extraordinary command of Staccatos, her flexibility and that uniquely pearly timbre"
Roger Pines - International Record Review - September 2011
Disc of the Week
"...Here is a Lucia to match Callas or Sutherland. Natalie Dessay’s light soprano gives a vivid impression of Lucia’s vulnerable personality. The Mad Scene is enthralling. Piotr Beczala is a gloriously virile Edgardo, and the Italian style of the Russian cast more than acceptable. With Valery Gergiev a suprisingly sensitive conductor, this is a top-rank recording of a marvellous opera."
Daily Telegraph - 6 August 2011
Performance **** Recording *****
"...The main attraction is natalie Dessay as Lucia, a part she can despatch without strain ... as post-maria Callas Lucias go, she is one of the best’.
Michael Tanner - BBC Music magazine - October 2011
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