Musical Opinion, March 1st, 2008
The story may be less than engrossing - in fact it's probably even less than that - but Bellini's Norma offers a feast of bel canto singing that surely no one half in love with the sound of the human voice at full technical pelt and emotional depth, can reasonably resist. That is, of course, if it's well sung. Otherwise the resistance factor can reach terrifying heights.
The first time I heard Norma, Norma was played by Maria Callas, Adalgisa was Ebbe Stignani, and even the tiny role of the Norma's confidante Clotilde, was sung by an unknown but dangerously noticeable soprano called Joan Suth...
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