Bellini: Norma ( Norma )

Bellini: Norma (DVD) (*)

~~$59.99~~ $47.95

Original Title: Norma
Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
French ( Subtitles )
Italian ( Dolby Digital Stereo )
Italian ( DTS 5.1 )
Italian ( Subtitles )
Spanish ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
Italy ( PAL/NTSC/Region 0 )

Running Time:
162 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.78:1)

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 2008 and produced in:
Italy ( Italy, Greece )

Directed By:
Evelino Pidò

Written By:
Evelino Pidò

Actors:
Daniela Dessi
Fabio Armiliato
Kate Aldrich
Antonello Ceron
Rafal Siwek

Synopsis:

Daniela Dessi Fabbio Armiliato, Kate Aldrich, and Rafal Siwek star in this April 2008 live production of the Bellini opera with Evelino Pido conducting the Orchestra & Chorus of the Teatro Comunele di Bologna.

At the end of the 1950's it seemed that everything had already been said about Norma. The phenomenal interpretation of the role by Callas not only had revealed the dimensions of a music and style of singing that had been lost but also and above all had established a character imposing in its authority, its sculptured form, and its expressiveness. And so a role that had always been in the repertory--from Pasta, who was Norma in the opera's premiere at Verona in 1831, to Malibran, from Grisi to Lehmann, from Ponselle to Cigna-seemed to have received its ultimate interpretation in the "total" performance of Callas. Yet the 1960's produced some new interpretations. There was, for example, the pugnacious Norma presented by Gencer and, at the other extreme, the abstract, decorative performance by Sutherland. Each of these, in its own way, was superb, yet neither attacked the problem at its roots because, in Gencer's case, her interpretation was still too much in line with Callas' while in Sutherland's, we were given bel canto several years before the bel canto revolution had arrived. In 1970, when Montserrat Caballe, after resounding triumphs in rarely staged works by Donizetti and Bellini, decided to sing the role of the druid priestess, many questioned whether she had a voice suited to the role, or else feared that singing Norma would be too risky a venture for the delicate voice of the Spanish soprano. In one of her earliest recordings Caballe had sung a heavenly "Casta diva...," it is true. However, this cavatina is an exception, for the rest of the role is very stressful and onerous musically. The hypercritical Callas, eternally dissatisfied with her "Casta diva...," relied on other portions of the role to sustain her interpretation. In an interview, Shirley Verrett has told of going to Callas' home with Caballe for a meeting that was to give the latter a precious lesson on how to handle the Bellini role. Callas advised the future Norma how to manage two or three decisive points of characterization. Yet it does not follow that because these two singers had such different voices and temperaments, the passages difficult for one would be easy for the other. In any case, even by the time of her debut as Norma in Barcelona, Caballe had distanced herself from Callas, handling this daunting role with her own voice and her own interpretation-an interpretation that (quite in line with the Bellini style) gave primacy to elegiac expression, the purest legato, and angelic singing. In the tones produced by Caballe's voice there was something suspended and impalpable-- miraculous pianissimos and exquisite blending-that truly restored lunar coloring to the passages of reverie in the score. For example, the opening aria ("Oh! Rimembranza!") in the first duet with Adalgisa-- and "Ei tornera..." a brief passage that foreshadows the great dramatic development of the final scene-acquired from Caballe's voice a new feeling of utter, illusive bliss. Of course with these less stressful parts of the score the Spanish soprano was in her element, they were her forte. Yet elsewhere, too, she demonstrated her mastery, as a grand virtuoso and inspired interpreter able to get surprising results from a voice seemingly too smooth and delicate for the vocal harshness of the dramatic passages. Thus, in the moments of deepest feeling the silver thread of her voice gained a melting expression of inexpressible pain-for example in "Teneri figli...," or in the second duet with Adalgisa, or in her heart-rending final prayer to Oroveso. In this last her tone is heart-rending just before the deeply felt and redemptive "Son io" with which Norma publicly admits that she has done wrong. Then too, in passages of furious, vindictive excitement Caballe's voice gained a sonority and amplitude sufficient both for the forceful agility of "Oh, non tremare..." and "I Romani a cento a cento" and for the numerous high C's. Thus, the belief that this role was inaccessible except to dramatic sopranos was amply disproved. This belief had been mistaken also because many powerful voices unfailingly faltered in the recitatives and on the high notes. {Lilli Lehmann used to say that it would be less tiring to sing three Brunhildes in the same evening than one Norma; and it is no accident that an outstanding Wagnerian like Kirsten Flagstad abandoned the attempt to sing Norma after two years' study of the role.) Caballe, like Callas and Sutherland, demonstrated that it is not the voice but the bel canto technique that solves the problem. And in doing so she affirmed that a mystical, en raptured Norma is not necessarily less Bellinian than a tragic Norma, as an interpretation of the role. Furthermore, while Callas had exalted the priestly and prophetic aspect of a Norma privately tormented by passion and uncertainty, Caballe had intuited that her gentle voice and evident humanity could bring out the maternal side of Norma as well as the suffering feminine aspect. Earlier, bringing out both these aspects in Imogen of Pirata and Alaide of La Straniera, Caballe had restored these two Bellini roles to immaculate neoclassical purity. In interpreting Norma, Caballe thus proposed a new, quite personal, yet legitimate vision of the role, and to do so had required the courage to tamper with an untouchable myth. Caballe is a sweet, gentle woman but has a very determined character, and so she did not hesitate to bring her interpretation even to that great Milanese theatre, that inviolable sanctuary of grand opera, La Scala. There, in 1972, her Norma completely overcame all hostility and demonstrated that it could live at peace with the great Normas of the past and even complement them. And although Caballe's Norma had been broadcast by RAI of Turin the year before and was about to be issued by RCA, nonetheless it was at La Scala that her interpretation really took hold. From there she went on to present her Norma in all the world's major opera houses, and in a few years it became impossible to make an accurate historical evaluation of Bellini's Norma without taking Caballe's version into account. The performance on this video was given on 20 July 1974 at the Festival di Orange, in the wind-swept outdoor Theatre des Choregies; it has been taken from the archives of INA of Paris. Caballe was at the top of her form both vocally and expressively in this performance, and no other recording, either earlier or later, so well preserves her at her best. Her Norma, maintaining as it does a perfect balance between rapturous bel canto and the romantic sensibility, is a milestone among the great Normas of the twentieth century, and this recording preserves one of the best, most magical of Caballe's performances. Furthermore, on this occasion she is flanked by a cast of the highest quality, under the direction of a highly acclaimed conductor, Giuseppe Patane. The singers are unusual in their rare expressive quality. The Pollione of Jon Vickers with his rough-hewn yet subtle pride, the Adalgisa of Josephine Veasey, feminine and intensely musical, and the Oroveso of Agostino Ferrin with his noble severity all provide more than mere support for the prima donna: they are performers of exceptional singularity who, together with the superb Caballe, have created a Norma with few equals anywhere.

This product was added to our catalog on Sunday 10 April, 2016.