Maybe I'm confused about which Db you mean, but it sounds to me (and sounded to me back in the day) that when she gets into that area, she goes into more of a head voice. It's true that there are a couple of places in the top of "Worst Pies" where she sort of belts but it's almost more like speaking there. But for the most part in "Worst Pies" when she gets to that area, it sounds like head voice to me.
Sondheim more or less says that in Sondheim on Music when he's discussing Lansbury and "Worst Pies" and the changes he made because she couldn't sing up there in chest voice. Quoting Sondheim on Lansbury: "Her chest range is really only about an octave-and-two."
Not having a great ear sometimes makes some of these things difficult for me to understand. It seems to me like high belting was never something she did. When I look at the published scores of Anyone Can Whistle and Mame, I wonder if, in just a couple of places, she sang what is in the score. It doesn't sound to me like she sang what's in the score in a few places (not in the places in Whistle where she does go into head voice). She sang Gypsy for the most part lower than the other recorded Roses.
If I'm wrong about any of this, please tell me. |
