Bellini - Norma / Patane, Caballe, Vickers, Veasey, Theatre Antique d'Orange
by Pierre Jourdan
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DVD details
Actor: Agostino Ferrin, Jon Vickers, Joséphine Veasey, Marisa Zotti, Montserrat CaballéDirector: Pierre Jourdan
Brand: ST Clair ENT GRP INC
Writer: Felice Romani
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Italian (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Classical, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 160 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-03-11
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Video Artists Int'l
DVD Reviews of Bellini - Norma / Patane, Caballe, Vickers, Veasey, Theatre Antique d'Orange
DVD Review: Situation Norma - All Frenzied Up
Summary: 5 Stars
The negative first... Josephine Veasey's voice, about 80% of the time, has difficulty in singing dead centre in the pitch. She seems to attempt an atomic model of singing in which the pitch, like a pair of electrons, is a cloud of probability rather than certainty. Sometimes the sound she produces is pleasant - and sometimes it's not. She sounds good in the duets with Caballe, though, and there are certainly moments when she does some nice things vocally. Not so with her acting, though... It is, I'm afraid, pure ham. The times she FLINGS herself down onto the ground is too much, both in quality and quantity.
Second negative - Jon Vickers. His is a magnificent voice, of course, but it's not really a bel canto voice, and he fails to portray the beauty of the role of Pollione. He's also not an able actor, and does not manage to convey manly beauty in his portrayal (as Pollione surely must - he has two druidic priestesses in love with him).
I don't count the quality of the DVD as a negative - for me, primarily, the performance is the thing. (The technical quality is perfectly adequate in conveying the performance, and as such, I've no complaints.)
What makes this performance a 5-star performance...? Montserrat Caballe. I'd never have believed Caballe could give such a supremely beautiful performance of this extremely difficult role. Never. The enthusiastic reviews here encouraged me to purchase the DVD, but I was still worried... Would she sound like the hooting and large-sized woman I was accustomed to seeing? I'd never really understood what the fuss was about, concerning Caballe, until I chanced upon a recording of I Stranieri by Bellini, with Caballe singing so exquisitely that it was like a silken ladder to God.
But almost everything else of her performances has failed to impress me. I've heard the camel-sneering arthritic vocal attack problem. I've heard the painful and squally timbre. I've seen the apparently self-satisfied persona standing on stage... I was afraid of all of that happening in this performance...
... and it was not so.
Instead, the watchers were divinely blessed by a performance so sublime that one is stricken with agreement when Adalgisa sings "sublimi'accenti", and when Norma sings of herself as "sublime woman". Sublime, indeed... Vocally, exquisitely beautiful and full of the unconscious grandeur Norma MUST have. Caballe WAS Norma. I can well understand why Callas (another great Norma - perhaps the greatest of them all) signified her approval of this performance. The acting! It was unexpectedly perfect! Caballe was convincing and ravishing, overcoming without any effort at all the fact that she was less than sylph-like and not in the first flush of youth. That simply melted away, and we were left with the essence of Norma, the woman who struggles with love, guilt, political worries, fear of infidelity, jealousy, and finally a nobility of self-sacrifice that will leave no tear unwept.
The performance is outdoors - there is a wind that stirs and sometimes grabs the costumes of the performers. This does not detract an iota from the performance - rather, it gives it an uncanny sense of realism.
The Oroveso was fine - his voice had real depth and passion, and he looked the part beautifully.
The high-points - the incredibly beautiful aria Casta Diva, the duets between Adalgisa and Norma, the trio between Norma, Adalgis and the faithless Pollione - are truly high points. If they don't make you get up and shout "Brave! Brave!", nothing will! The crowd in this outdoor theatre can be heard and seen going berserk with applause, and one appreciates why - they were seeing a historic Norma that the whole world should regard as irreplaceable and precious.
This is Norma as it should be. One might wish for a more ideal Pollione, and a better Adalgisa, but let's face it - the opera stands or falls with its Norma. Here... the performance does more than stand. It... soars.
More Bellini - Norma / Patane, Caballe, Vickers, Veasey, Theatre Antique d'Orange reviews:
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Description of Bellini - Norma / Patane, Caballe, Vickers, Veasey, Theatre Antique d'Orange
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