Vincenzo BELLINI (1801-1835)
Norma (1831) [156.13]
Montserrat Caballé (soprano) – Norma; Fiorenza Cossotto (mezzo) –
Adalgisa; Plácido Domingo (tenor) – Pollione; Ruggero Raimondi (bass)
– Oroveso; Kenneth Collins (tenor) – Flavio; Elizabeth Bainbridge
(mezzo) – Clotilde
Ambrosian Opera Chorus; London Philharmonic Orchestra/Carlo Felice Cillario
rec. Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London, 1972
RCA RED SEAL 88875 073482 [3 CDs: 62.56 + 50.32 + 42.45]
This 1972 recording of Norma always in its day
played second fiddle to the sets featuring Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland,
but it nevertheless deserves its reissue here. Montserrat Caballé’s
soft-toned assumption of the role of the Druid priestess lacks Callas’s
ferocious engagement with the text, or Sutherland’s heroic fullness
of tone. It still packs plenty of impact, and her voice is not subject to
the waywardness of Callas, or the incipient beat which had begun to affect
Sutherland’s middle register at the time of her second recording in
1984. It also boasts a strong supporting cast, considerably better than that
on either of Callas’s commercial recordings or Sutherland’s earlier
Decca set of 1965.
Caballé herself featured in the later Sutherland set, singing the role of
Adalgisa and perhaps showing herself more suited to the part of the young
priestess than the title role. At this earlier stage in her extended career
her voice had still all the agility and sweetness of tone that the music demands.
Some time after the original release John Steane in the Gramophone
complained of a feeling of “dangerous pressure in louder passages”
which resulted in some unsteadiness on high notes. By the time he came to
review the CD reissue in 1988 his attitude had softened somewhat, noting that
she provided “moments of rare loveliness” and commenting that
“she deserves her bouquets”. She is in the line of purely musical
Normas, missing out almost entirely on the sense of outrage and drama that
Callas found in the role; but within that tradition she is among the very
best.
Fiorenza Cossotto is a strong-voiced mezzo rather than a soprano Adalgisa.
As such the balance of power between the two women is rather turned on its
head. Although the celebrated combination of Sutherland and Marilyn Horne
in Sutherland’s 1965 set is the most exciting of all, the combination
of Sutherland and Caballé in the former’s 1984 recording probably comes
closer to what the composer had in mind. Cossotto is at least thoroughly on
top of the coloratura demands, with an evenness of tone that commands
respect. Plácido Domingo is as virile a Pollione as one could wish; not as
sweet-toned as Luciano Pavarotti on the 1984 Sutherland set but commanding
the stage during his scenes. He is immeasurably superior to John Alexander
on the earlier Sutherland set, or either of his rivals in the two commercial
Callas recordings — where Franco Corelli on the later set is simply
miscast.
In the smaller roles Ruggiero Raimondi is excellent as Oroveso. Kenneth Collins,
himself no mean Pollione, is rather wasted in the small role of Flavio. Elisabeth
Bainbridge takes on the mantle of the young Sutherland herself - in the live
1952 Callas recording from Covent Garden - as Norma’s maid. This is
casting from strength, and the chorus is finely full-toned too. The orchestra
under Carlo Felice Cillario plays superbly, and the only real cause for doubt
lies in the conductor himself. He was a favoured partner of Caballé, and he
was willing perhaps to over-indulge her in the matter of rubato to
an extent that undermined the forward impulse of the music. The Penguin
Guide described his contribution as “a little underpowered”
and Raymond Monelle writing in Opera magazine was rather ruder, complaining
that there was “no flow, no sense of shape and contrast”. Caballé
clearly felt at ease with him, and he allows the music to find its own leisurely
pace without hustling the singers – not an inconsiderable virtue.
For some time after the original release of this set complaints mainly focused,
as in the Metropolitan Guide to Recorded Opera, on the claim that
it represented “production line opera”. It had what at the time
seemed to be almost a standard casting of Caballé, Domingo and Raimondi in
a whole series of recordings not only for RCA but also for EMI and Decca.
I am not quite sure whether this criticism holds water any more, if it ever
did. Any listener should be grateful for the combination of such excellent
musical values with casting in depth and recorded sound of the highest order.
Roland Graeme in the Metropolitan Guide also remarks unfavourably
upon the English accents of the chorus; this is surely sheer nit-picking.
Very few of the rival sets feature Italian choruses, and the sometimes ragged
quality of their singing there does little to recommend the brand. I have
not in this review made any comparisons with later recordings, since this
set is surely representative of 1960s and 1970s opera at close to its best.
As such it should commend itself to more than just any Caballé fans who might
have missed earlier reissues.
The 1988 RCA reissue on CD came with complete text and translation. Here this
is reduced to a cued synopsis, but there again the words are not great literature
and can readily be found online. The earlier Sutherland set came originally
with a translation of alarming bathos – I seem to remember an exchange
in the last scene given as “So let us dissemble; it is politic to dissemble”…”Yes,
let us dissemble, if dissembling helps” – and I suppose we should
be grateful to be spared any such unintentional humour. The recording still
sounds excellent, and this reissue is to be welcomed. It is not the whole
story of Norma and Callas certainly finds more in the title role
than we are given here but as a purely musical experience it still holds up
against its competition.
Paul Corfield Godfrey
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