Michel Legrand: Between Yesterday and Tomorrow – Natalie Dessay

   in Opera Now (Mar, 2018)
Natalie Dessay certainly provides a huge tonal palate in her traversal of Michel Legrand’s Between Yesterday and Tomorrow, originally conceived as a concept album for Barbra Streisand, who abandoned the project for an unspecified reason. The song cycle follows one woman from birth to death. The CD booklet extols the profundity of the exercise. I found it generally banal. Dessay’s non-operatic voice is gorgeous (and at times is curiously reminiscent of Streisand’s), her interpretations are astute, and the texts by Alan and Marilyn Bergman are skilled. To my ears, however, Legrand’s music is a bland melodic wash. Millions disagree, so if you want to hear what Legrand’s cycle could have …