Bellini: Norma

Beverly Sills, Shirley Verrett - Bellini: Norma

Bellini: Norma
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CD Details

Artist: Beverly Sills, Shirley Verrett
Brand: SILLS,BEVERLY
Composer: Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Bellini
Conductor: James Levine
Orchestra: London New Philharmonia Orchestra
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2009-07-21
Music Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. Sinfonia
  2. Coro d'introduzione e Cavatina: "Ite sul colle, o Druidi"
  3. Recitativo e Cavatina: "Svanir le voci"
  4. "Meco all'altar di Venere"
  5. "Me protegge, me difende"
  6. Coro: "Norma viene"
  7. Scena e Cavatina: "Sediziose voci, voci di guerra"
  8. "Casta Diva, che inargenti queste sacre antiche piante"
  9. "Fine al rito"
  10. "Ah! bello a me ritorna"
  11. Scena e Duetto: "Sgombra è la sacra selva"
  12. "Deh! proteggimi, o Dio!"
  13. "Eccola! va', mi lascia, ragion non odo"
  14. "Va', crudele; al Dio spietato offri in dono il sangue mio"
  15. Scena: "Vanne, e li cela entrambi"
  16. Duetto: "Adalgisa!" - "Alma, costanza" - "T'inoltra, o giovinetta"
  17. "Oh! rimembranza!"
  18. "Ah! sì, fa' core, e abbracciami"
  19. Scena e Terzetto - Finale I: "Ma di' ... l'amato giovane quale
  20. "Il mira"
Music CD 2
  1. "Oh non tremare, o perfido"
  2. "Oh, di qual sei tu vittima"
  3. "Perfido!" - "Or basti" - "Fermati"
  4. "Vanne, sì: mi lascia, indegno"
  5. Introduzione
  6. "Dormono entrambi ... non vedran la mano"
  7. Scena e Duetto: "Me chiami, o Norma"
  8. "Deh! con te, con te li prendi"
  9. "Mira, o Norma, a' tuoi ginocchi"
  10. "Sì, fino all'ore estreme"
  11. Coro e Sortita d'Oroveso: "Non parti? ... Finora è al campo"
  12. "Guerrieri! a voi venirne credea foriero d'avvenir migliore"
  13. "Ah! del Tebro al giogo indegno"
  14. Recitativo e Coro: "Ei tornerà. Sì, mia fidenza è posta in Adalgisa"
  15. "Squilla il bronzo del Dio!"
  16. "Guerra, guerra!"
  17. Scena e Duetto: "Né compi il rito, o Norma?"
  18. "In mia man alfin tu sei"
  19. "Già mi pasco ne' tuoi sguardi"
  20. "Dammi quel ferro"
  21. "Qual cor tradisti, qual cor perdesti"
  22. "Norma! ... deh! Norma, scolpati!"
  23. "Deh! non volerli vittime del mio fatale errore"

Music reviews of Bellini: Norma

Music Review: THE AMERICAN NORMA: BEVERLY SILLS
Rating: 5 Stars

ABOUT THE RECORDING: Vincenzo Bellini's Norma: Beverly Sills, soprano (Norma), Enrico Di Giuseppe, tenor (Pollione), Shirley Verrett, soprano (Adalgisa), Paul Plishka, baritone (Oroveso) Delia Wallis, mezzo soprano (Clotilde), Robert Tear, baritone (Flavio)....John Alldis Choir, Chorus Master John Alldis, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Conductor James Levine. Recorded at Watford, Town Hall, July and August, 1973, LP original release date: 1974 Deutsche Grammophon. 2-CD digitally remastered, released by Deutsche Grammophon, 2009. Photo: Beverly Sills in promotional photo for Norma originally seen on the cover of the 1974 LP.

THE AMERICANS TAKE ON NORMA: Few people seem to realize that this Norma is an all-American Norma, a sort of brilliant dramatic showpiece to stand together with the other Normas that did not have Americans involved. Maria Callas' Norma is largely considered the best but Callas was trained by Europeans and was more Greek than American, though she was Greek-American and later citizen of France. Other Normas - Montserrat Caballe (Spanish/Catalan), Joan Sutherland (Australian) Ghena Dimitrova (Bulgarian). Although there have been American sopranos who have sung Norma (Rosa Ponselle), Beverly Sills was at this time in the 1970's, the only American singing the role. Having learned from Ponselle herself, Sills felt it was natural to take on the part of the greatest bel canto heroine of them all, Norma. Her conductor is the prominent American James Levine who later became the principal conductor of the Met Opera Orchestra. African-American soprano (and mezzo) Shirley Verrett sings Adalgisa, but in a few years following this recording, she sang Norma herself to great acclaim. But it was because she had sung Adalgisa first, learning from Sills herself, that she was inspired to take on the role. Tenor Enrico Di Giuseppe was American born but his parents were Italian (like Anna Moffos heritage/Italian American). He sang tenor roles at the Met for many years but was not very well-known or popular. He sang mostly standard lyric roles and his voice is not impressive or powerful. He was probably cast owing to the unavailable status of other superior tenors who might have sung Pollione to Sills Norma like Jon Vickers or Placido Domingo. Another reason may well be the habit conductors had of pairing Sills with light lyric tenors. Beverly Sills rarely sang with big-voiced tenors, most likely because a truly heavy tenor voice could drown out her small voice in duets or dramatic scenes involving a tenor/soprano pair. Bellini wrote the role of Pollione to be sung with a dramatic heavy voice, and although a bel canto voice is needed, there has to be heft and volume owing to the fact he is a Roman general/proconsul and strong enough to match Norma herself. This is, like another review stated, an alternative Norma to the other Normas, but it is still a great Norma.

BEVERLY SILLS AS NORMA

At long last, Beverly Sill's only recording of Norma, originally released in LP in 1974, is available through the Deutsche Grammophon label. For loyal fans of the late Beverly Sills who passed away on July 2, 2007 at the age of 78, this is a collector's item and a treasure to own. The New York-born Sills was mostly recognized for dazzling lyric-coloratura voice, which she used not only to thrilling effect but for expressive dramatic acting, for she understood the importance of not only the music but the text and the words in each of her roles. When Sills undertook to sing the big bel canto roles (Lucia, Lucrezia Borgia, Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, Rossini heroines and including the heavy ones of Queen Elisabeth in Donizetti's Roberto Devereaux, bel canto was already being popularized by sopranos following in the footsteps of Maria Callas, namely Joan Sutherland and Monsterrat Caballe. Sills, the same as Sutherland and Caballe, was up against the Mighty Callas when singing Norma. Although Sills did not possess the large voices that Callas/Sutherland/Caballe had to their advantage, Sills nonetheless performed 13 Normas in her career, opting not to make it a signature role and singing it only within the US. The role is a voice-killer and indeed Norma must have caused some of the later vocal problems Sills had by the late 1970's/early 80's. She was aware that the role was not suited to her type of voice but so big was her love for the bel canto genre that she sang it anyways. Norma is considered the epitome of bel cant opera, the finest example of the genre. How could Sills not want to sing it ? Audiences who saw her Norma in Boston under the baton of the woman conductor Sarah Caldwell (also deceased) witnessed a Norma unlike any other. Sills deliberately shifted attention away from her small, lyric voice to her ACTING, to her portrayal of the Druid Priestess-Prophet as a woman of warmth, compassion, sisterly love for Adalgisa and motherly love for her children. Although she is clearly hurt by Pollione's betrayal, she only temporarily indulges in her anger. Her Norma is not a mighty cruel creature who turns noble at the end, Sills' Norma is noble the whole way through. In this recording, she makes use of her stunning, God-given bel canto specialties, especially legato. Nowhere else will you find better legato than in Norma's famous aria "Casta Diva" sung by Sills in its original soprano key. The legato is slow, wistful, spiritual, touching. It is truly a Prayer Aria and Sills understood this and brings that element to it, rather than making it a showpiece. Her coloratura lines are fewer here but they are there, clean, dazzling, bright and swift. Sills' Norma changes emotionally in all the right places. In the first act and in her first scenes, she is the Druid Priestess, a spiritual leader, a link between the earthly home of the Druids and the Heavens where the Goddess Irminsul resides. In the 2nd Act, she is a betrayed woman, hurt, upset, though no volcano of fury. She forgives Adalgisa and does not go through with the original plan of killing her children with Pollione. Her feelings for Pollione become apparent in the last scenes "In Mia Man Alfin tu sei" in which Sills delivers one of the most emotionally moving executions of the aria. The final aria in which Norma walks into the fire, defeated, condemned, sacrificial, along with Pollione, is remarkably done, a more crisp, emotive version you're hard pressed to find.

JAMES LEVINE

Much of the success of this recording was also due to James Levine's glorious and potent conducting. He is a young conductor here and in fact this was his first full-length opera recording. He delivers a nearly symphonic Norma, full of power and vigor in several parts, starting with the Overture but also in the more dramatic moments. Yet, in such scenes as Norma debating whether she should kill her children or not, the music is slow-paced and introspective, though there is still a sense of urgency and brisk tempi. This is not altogether a bad thing. It makes the opera far more dramatic and less dull. The final portions of the score can move you to tears! The music has been digitally remastered from the old LP so it sounds fresh, clear and brilliant. For fans of James Levine, this Norma is also a treasure to own and a collector's item. We hear in this rendition of the score to Norma, all the wonderful ingredients of Levine's masterful conducting in other operas to come. It's a glossy polished score from start to finish, truly a modern, first-rate studio recording, even by early 70's recording standards. It's a miraculous recording in that it flows from one scene to the next, each musical phrase flowing like swift waters in a river. The singers all sing cleanly and perfectly and don't even seem to breathe! Their singing may not be the hair-raising and impressive singing heard in Maria Callas' Norma recordings, but their Italian enunciation is perfect and beautifully delivered. I even feel Sills' Norma is her finest Italian opera role. It is the least nuanced and devoid of mannerisms that Sills used in other roles. It's just straight Italian bel canto singing. Levine was able to make Sills shine like never before.

SHIRLEY VERRETT: The mezzo turned soprano is beautiful as Adalgisa. Thanks to her experience singing opposite Sills (in Rossini's Siege of Corinth and Anna Bolena) her duets with Sills are absolutely beautiful. Standing alone as a singer, she is phenomenal. Her voice is huge, dark-hued and strong, full of rich, beautiful lyric phrasing. She sings Adalgisa in the soprano key, feeling that Adalgisa is a virginal girl whose music is similar to Norma's (and it is) only shorter and less dramatic than Norma's. Her Adalgisa is still very regal and touching when compared to mature mezzo sopranos singing Adalgisa. True, there is no truly outstanding decorative touches but she sings it with clean fluidity, a dark soprano voice that sounds sexy and noble and again, a wonderful understanding of the character and the Italian text. This is a fine example of how a soprano can make a terrific Adalgisa. Verrett would herself later sing successful Normas and clearly she learned from singing with Beverly Sills' Norma. And for anyone interested, her Norma is also available on Amazon.com. There is a 1978 live San Francisco Opera performance (the sound is not perfect but it's a pleasure to hear Verrett live). It's a pity she did not do a studio Norma (it would have been sensational).

Enrico Di Giuseppe: is unfortunately the weak link. His lyric tenor voice is too small and not powerful at all. It is not big enough for the part of Pollione and when compared to superior singers who have tackled the role - Placido Domingo, Jon Vickers, Franco Corelli, Di Giuseppe is weak-sounding. This is one tenor who does not sound like an armor-clad Roman general! He sounds like a very short, vulnerable Plebeian! The biggest shame of this recording is that they were not able to find a terrific Pollione to sing with Sills. A good Pollione is necessary to deliver the goods in Norma. Such a pity!

What do I think of this recording ? It's 5 stars all the way. It's a remarkable version of Norma, just different from all other Normas. Beverly Sills is beautiful, absolutely beautiful as Norma, she'll break your heart and move you with her noble spirit and her attention to emotional phrasing of the text. Verrett is sublime as Adalgisa and Levine's conducting of the score is a masterpiece.
More Bellini: Norma free music reviews:
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Description of Bellini: Norma

NEVER BEFORE RELEASED ON CD! This is truly a rare treasure from the archives. Norma is perhaps the greatest, most dramatic bel canto opera and Bevely Sills was undoubtedly one of the most profoundly affecting and vocally gifted singers of her era. For the firsttime ever, her 1973 studio recording of this touchstone opera is now available on CD. Sills unleashes her imposing vocal talents and formidable skills as a singing actress in this role which requires not only forceful delivery but also silky, smooth lines and immaculate technique. Sills is joined by Shirely Verrett as Adalgisa, and their grand duets are surely the highlight of this recording.

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