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NORMA
By Vincenzo Bellini

VIDEO: Monserrat Caballe, Jon Vickers videotape from
1974; sumptuously filmed at the Theatre Antique d'Orange; Japanese
subtitles; DMVB 29 [G.R.]
AUDIO: A) LEGATO or HRE or MELODRAM [also
GALA, but see below]: Maria Callas, Mario Del Monaco, Giulietta
Simionato, Antonino Votto conducting; "live" performance at La Scala,
Dec. 7, 1955; Mono
(RED ALERT!!! There are several
Callas / Del Monaco Normas; there are several Callas / Simionato
Normas; there are several Callas / Votto Normas; there are several
Callas "live" performance Normas; there are several Callas / La Scala
Normas; there are several Callas / 1955 Normas! Make sure you acquire
this specific Callas performance comprising all six attributes! The
one thing favoring easy purchase is its availability on four
different labels. It's worth the trouble. It may just be the finest
evening of her career!! Del Monaco, too, is surprisingly mellow in
some of the love music. AVOID the GALA pressing if you
want this performance unedited -- snippets from other Callas
performances have been spliced in where the [fairly rare]
static gets too uncomfortable for the overskittish GALA engineers!!!
Unfortunately, one such moment, and a critical one, is the heart of
the Callas portrayal: Norma's "Dormono entrambi" sung quietly over
her sleeping children. Here, some may prefer GALA's substitution of
another Callas rendition in better sound, while others may regret the
loss of Callas's most poignant singing that evening.)
[G.R.]
B) FONIT-CETRA: Gina Cigna, Giovanni Breviario, Ebe
Stignani, Gui conducting (recorded 1937); a pupil of Emma Calve,
Cigna is the only Norma on disk who is a direct inheritor of the
original Marchesi-Garcia tradition traceable back to Bellini's own
day; her fine dramatic interpretation and dark vocal persona
certainly reflect this heritage in a compelling and impassioned
reading -- however modest her facility in coloratura may be; Stignani
is a more than worthy colleague; the real problem here is Breviario,
whose Pollione does not hold a candle to Del Monaco's on A;
Mono [G.R.]
C) DECCA/LONDON: Joan Sutherland, John Alexander, Marilyn
Horne, Bonynge conducting (1960s); the only recording comprising a)
absolutely no cuts, b) everything sung in the original keys
throughout, c) all three principals in optimum voice and accomplished
bel canto specialists at that, and d) excellent sonics;
despite these assets, not so exciting a performance as either
A or B; Stereo [G.R.]
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This Page Last Revised 8/13/99 | Copyright ©
1997 by Geoffrey Riggs
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