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Grand Tier - Bellini: Norma / Serafin, Callas, Et Al


Release Date: 11/04/2003 
Label:  Opera D'oro   Catalog #: 7003   Spars Code: n/a 
Composer:  Vincenzo Bellini
Performer:  Maria Callas,  Mario Del Monaco,  Giuseppe Modesti,  Ebe Stignani,   ... 
Conductor:  Tullio Serafin
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Italian Radio Symphony Orchestra Rome,  Italian Radio Chorus Rome
Number of Discs: 2 
Recorded in: Mono 
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Notes and Editorial Reviews

Newly designed packaging, including the complete libretto in a fresh new translation, with a special essay on the performance by Robert Levine.

R E V I E W S

Once we get the obvious out of the way--that from 1950 to 1964 (and arguably both before and since) Maria Callas was the greatest Norma available--we have at least a half-dozen of her performances to choose from. Two were recorded in the studio, there's another from London, one or two from Milan, and a couple of others (along with this 1955 performance) from Rome. Here she was in her vocal prime. The voice is in control at all volumes, and from blazing top to cruel/tragic low notes her coloratura is flawless, idiomatic, and always at the service of the Read more music and text. And this security allows her to "read" the role with searing insights, offering us equal parts Norma the Woman and Norma the Warrior. In short, it's as nearly perfect a performance of this role as we're ever going to hear. Her fury and hatred in her last-act confrontation with Pollione is as terrifying as her tenderness with her children is touching.


Partnering her is the somewhat brutal Mario del Monaco, who as usual makes up with vocal splendor what he lacks in nuance, and if the truth be known, he seems to try harder here to vary his approach than in most other recordings we have of his work. Ebe Stignani's Adalgisa is the best combination of girlishness and knowing; she partners Callas well. Giuseppe Modesti's Oroveso is properly booming. Tullio Serafin was a master of the score, and he brings both tautness and lyricism to it. The sound is good enough. This epic performance has been available on many labels (and still is); this is the only one I know of that is pitched properly--the others are sharp. [5/10/2004]
--Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com Read less

Works on This Recording

1. Norma by Vincenzo Bellini
Performer:  Maria Callas (Soprano), Mario Del Monaco (Tenor), Giuseppe Modesti (Bass),
Ebe Stignani (Mezzo Soprano), Rina Cavallari (Mezzo Soprano), Athos Cesarini (Tenor)
Conductor:  Tullio Serafin
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Italian Radio Symphony Orchestra Rome,  Italian Radio Chorus Rome
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1831; Italy 
 Date of Recording: 06/26/1955 
Venue:  Live  Rome, Italy 
Language: Italian 

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review:  ( 1 Customer Review )
 Norma and Callas May 1, 2013 By Carlos Ribadeneira (Woodside, NY) See All My Reviews "This recording featuring the incomparable Callas interpreting NORMA is almost as excellent as to being present at the opera theater back in the 1950s, which I was privileged to attend." Report Abuse
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