Bellini: La sonnambula -
This is an odd performance, not altogether satisfying (and certainly not up to the level
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of Giulini's magnificent EMI recording with Wächter and Sutherland), but with much to offer. Nicolai Giaurov is in his most luxurious voice as the Don, and Sesto Bruscantini is a fine foil for him as Leporello, savouring the text and singing with great style. Alfredo Kraus's Don Ottavio is very classy indeed and Sena Jurinac's Donna Elvira is well characterised. Giulini leads the somewhat wayward but always willing Roman forces in a good show.--Robert Levine
Bellini: La sonnambula
This is an odd performance, not altogether satisfying (and certainly not up to the level
... more
of Giulini's magnificent EMI recording with Wächter and Sutherland), but with much to offer. Nicolai Giaurov is in his most luxurious voice as the Don, and Sesto Bruscantini is a fine foil for him as Leporello, savouring the text and singing with great style. Alfredo Kraus's Don Ottavio is very classy indeed and Sena Jurinac's Donna Elvira is well characterised. Giulini leads the somewhat wayward but always willing Roman forces in a good show.--Robert Levine
...Among the Bellini operas, Beatrice di Tenda may not be as compelling musically as Norma or LaSonnambula, but it contains some of bel canto's most beautiful tunes and one of the most beautiful trio ever written.
THE STORY:
Filippo, the Duke of Milan, is married to Beatrice, but covets her lady in waiting Agnese. He plots to get his wife out of the way by accusing her of having an affair with Orombello (whom Agnese loves, but who is in love with Beatrice). Agnese backs the false charge, thinking that if she can't have Orombello then she doesn't want Beatrice to have him either. A few changes of heart follow in the course of the opera, but Beatrice is the constant good gal who gains a moral victory at the price of her own head.
This is a live CD recording from a performance in Vienna in 1992 conducted by Pinchas Steinberg and featuring...
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Advantages: Virtuosic operatic vocalism, unusual repertoire, mad scenes... Disadvantages: Fleming's voice is maybe not best suited for this...
...then this is as good a place to start as any.
Tracks 1-3 - Vincenzo Bellini, (1801-1835) "Lasonnambula", Scena ed Aria finale, Act 2.
In this aria slightly dotty heroine Armina is out sleepwalking as usual and sings dreamily away as she balances precariously over a stream. She sings of her true love, proving that she didn't really set out to seduce another male aristocrat earlier in the opera and when woken by the local village maidens bursts into a very virtuosic finale, (which goes to prove the medical advice you shouldn't waken people who are sleepwalking.)
Unfortunately although it is placed first on the disc as an obvious real curtain-opener due to its renowned status in the bel canto repertoire, it doesn't fulfil this role at all in my opinion. There is a lot of emotional musing from the soprano at the start of the extract and Ms Fleming...
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Advantages: about equal! Disadvantages: high price of the Sutherland set
...Keen opera fans may sometimes be puzzled by the choice available on the shelves of the larger record shops, especially when trying to compare two stellar casts. Bellini's last (and arguably greatest) opera, I Puritani, is a case in point, with recordings by Callas and Sutherland heading the list. Personally I bought both, to avoid having to choose, but each has it's merits. Callas, as always, brings greater warmth and fire to the usually pallid role of Elvira, but Sutherland's effortless roulades and trills are a joy to hear, and a young Pavarotti has a flawless technique in the infamous tenor role which defeated Caruso, complete with a hair-raising top F in his final aria. The Sutherland set also avoids the cuts made in the earlier recording, but is handicapped by Decca's greedy pricing - still at full-price after 30 years? Come on...
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14.04.2007
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