Release Date: 12 January 2004
Label: Naxos - Historical / Naxos Historical
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 3
Barcode: 636943132524
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: BELLINI
Description
Vincenzo BELLINI (1801-1835)NormaThis recording, first published in November 1954 in theUnited States by Angel and in Britain by Columbia, andmade at the end of April and beginning of May, was thesecond in the series under the aegis of La Scala, Milan,with its orchestra and chorus. Like the first, anotherBellini opera, I Puritani, it was not made at the operahouse but at Cinema Metropol; the season was stillgoing on, and Tebaldi was singing Tosca.Norma is the only bel canto opera to have beengiven almost continuously through the years at majortheatres in Italy, and under Italian sway in the UnitedStates and Britain, since its first performance at LaScala, Milan, in 1831. In the days before recording therewas a tradition of nineteenth-century Normas, includingits creator Giuditta Pasta, Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis,Maria Malibran, Giulia Grisi, Jenny Lind, AntoniettaFricci, Teresa Tietjens, Maria Vilda, EuphrosyneParepa and Maria Peri. How their styles may havedeveloped, in response to the then ever-changingrepertory, we can only guess. By the first decades of thelast century recordings of the aria Casta Diva weremade by Eugenia Burzio (1872-1922) and GianninaRuss (1873-1951), both of whom undertook it at LaScala, Milan, and Ester Mazzoleni (1883-1982), whodid so at the San Carlo, Naples. Their singing is more animpression than an actual account of the notes, notperhaps because they could not have sung it moreaccurately but because they were trying to inform musicwhose style was by then old-fashioned with one bettersuiting their own time. Their tone is often overlyanguished with excessive recourse to vibrato at oddswith the basis of bel canto, a suave, shapely and limpidlegato, as we read in singing manuals like ManuelGarcia's L'art du chant (1847). By the second quarterof the twentieth century, when not only singers but theirteachers too were reared on verismo, Normas such asBianca Scacciati (1894-1948), Gina Cigna (1900-2001)and Maria Caniglia (1905-1979) all had big vibratoryvoices and used a vehement declamatory style betterfitting Ponchielli's La Gioconda composed 45 yearslater. Their principal concern was conveying the dramaand they were careless executing florid music,aspirating it and crashing vocal gears. The German LilliLehmann (1848-1929) and the American Rosa Ponselle(1897-1981) sang Norma more accurately (at least asrecorded) and enjoyed successes with it, but did so onlyoutside Italy and were not part of the tradition.There are many demanding r?â??les in the sopranorepertory, but few more so than Norma, and certainlynone as rewarding. As well as voice it requires the twobasic constituents of a great soprano: an accomplishedtechnique so her musicianship can be sufficientlyresponsive. What makes Callas a great Norma is therange and variety of expression she is able to bring tothe music. As she shows from Norma's first recitative,Sediziose voci, if the voice is correctly trained, then shewill be able to bring all the necessary colour, nua
Tracklisting
Vpo:Bbc So:Lso:Bso:Walter
Vienna Po:Philharmonia
Various
Various
Various
Various
Schwarzkopf
Sammons:
