Bellini: Norma (Orange, 1974)
 

Cast: Montserrat Caballé (Norma), Josephine Veasey (Adalgisa), Jon Vickers (Pollione), Agostino Ferrin (Oroveso), Marisa Zotti (Clotilde), Gino Sinimberghi (Flavio); Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Reio di Torino, Giuseppe Patané (conductor)

Recorded on 20 July 1974 at the Théâtre Antique Orange in Provence. Previously published on VHS, LaserDisc and DVD (NTSC) by Dreamlife, Japan.

Reissued on DVD in 2001 by Hardy Trading Company of Via Millelire 13, 20146 Milan, Italy. (PAL/region 0 with menus in Italian and subtitles in English, French, and Italian).

Technical Details: Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Sound: Digital Dolby - monaural

Running time:161 minutes
Sung in Italian

Price approcimately 39 euros
 
This performance is burning hot despite the mistral blowing through the Orange amphitheater. Caballé considers it her finest opera recording and few would disagree with her. Vickers is at his best as the rugged Roman general. Veasey is appropriately lyric and seemingly virginal. Even Ferrin stands out as an Oroveso of the first rank. Simply put, there is no Norma in any format of this vocal caliber.
 
Patané holds the forces together most of the time, but seems on occasion hard-pressed to respond to the soloists urging for less stolid tempi. The orchestra is somewhat ragged, the chorus more so. There is no production here at all; it is simply the arena with a sort of stone bench, illuminated raggedly with spotlights to show generalized costumes for all but the Romans (in conventional martial dress). No matter; Norma survives or perishes based on the singing and the singing here ensures that it thrives.
 
Since the performance is well known and widely respected, the key question becomes how well it is transferred to DVD. Video is substantially enhanced over the releases on VHS and LaserDisc. Contrast has been tamed in large measure and faces are now visible. Unfortunately, audio changes have not been as successful; possibly to reduce the effect of wind noise, low frequencies have been curtailed and some echo has been added in places. The equalization problem can be solved by tweaking your playback controls, but the echo remains and can be slightly distracting. Previous releases have claimed to be in stereo but separation was never audible. This issue does not appear to make that claim - and still provides no detectable separation.
 
Like the other Pierre Jourdan films, this Norma is based on audio recorded at one performance (20 July 1974) combined with video from several during the run. Necessarily, that results in some failures of lip sync, but they are seldom significant here. Unlike many publishers, Hardy favors two-layer discs so all chapters are instantly accessible. There is no supplementary material on the disc, but an informative essay is printed in an accompanying booklet.
 
All of which is incidental to the simple fact that this performance is indispensible in any library of opera recordings. Note that since it is in PAL, those with NTSC-only systems will have to wait or turn to Dreamlife. That issue appears to be from the same video and audio master but offers only Japanese subtitles, is much more costly, and is exceedingly difficult to buy.
 
Related websites: Hardy Trading Company www.promart.it/Dischi/EtichDiHardy.html
Hardy Trading Company email: hardyclassic@tiscaline.net
 
Michael Richter, 28 November 2002
mrichter@cpl.net
 
See also Michael Richter's Introduction to the DVD, for a list of other reviews see the DVD Project page.