This is my first post in seven months. Apologies; I’ve been buried to my eyes in political reporting, thesis proposals, and a major project that will be announced next year. So! To quote Granny Weatherwax: I aten’t dead.
1.) I’ve just listened to the Decca recording of Bellini’s Norma – the HIP edition with Cecilia Bartoli in the title rôle. It is, for want of a better word, incredible – and knocks every other recording of the opera into a cocked hat. I’ve heard the famous Callas and a couple of Sutherland recordings; Norma bored me. Those recordings (1950s to 1980s) were made before people understood how to sing bel canto; Sutherland, despite the extraordinary range and size of her voice, was not a singing actress; the score was edited for contemporary performing needs; and the music was played on heavy mid-to-late 20th-century instruments. Those versions are marmoreal, statuesque, static.
The Bartoli Norma, however, is a revelation. The recording restores Bellini’s original intentions: mezzo Norma, soprano Adalgisa (Sumi Jo), Rossinian tenor (John Osborn, the Jean de Leyde of our age); and it is performed on period instruments. It is sung in the original keys and tonalities, and cuts opened up. The result is lighter, clearer, more dynamic and propulsive; the singers ornament the notes; and there is more colour and lift in the orchestra. At the end of the opera, I uttered an almost orgasmic ‘Wow’, and promptly played ‘Casta diva’ (blissed out) and ‘Mira, o Norma’ (the first time the cabaletta doesn’t sound like squawking chickens). Accept no substitutions. Can the rest of bel canto opera be performed on period instruments, please?
2.) I have compiled a playlist of Baroque music, meant to show my Bach and Handel’s Messiah-loving friends what else there is. In between the overture and the finale chorus of Vinci’s Artaserse, there’s a lot of awesome music in this list, from thrilling virtual virtuosity to sublime beauty. Vinci, Porpora, Vivaldi, Bach (not that one)! Bartoli, Fagioli, Cenčić, Orlínski, Mynenko! Enjoy!
3.) A dash of (non-operatic) humour: An animal rights activist, determined to stamp out foxhunting, joins her local hunt to reform it from within – and discovers they really are from outer space. Title of the story: Ruth amid the alien Quorn: the uneatable in pursuit of the unspeakable. (I thank you.)
I intend to resume this blog in the new year – probably early February.
In the meantime: Io Saturnalia!
The Opera Scribe 
The Bartoli really is the best Norma. Callas was a great actress, but I could never stand her voice. This recording is indeed a revelation.
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I’m only recently aware of Artaserse and expect to go to Chicago in June for the Haymarket production.
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Oh, terrific – enjoy it!
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You have a way with words – I will be checking out this recording this instant.
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Thanks! Let me know what you think.
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Until recently I had never heard Norma. Then a friend of a friend was actually a producer on it for a summer festival, so I thought I’d at least better have a listen. Since then I’ve listened to it a couple of times and seen the Sutherland performance from Sydney. The recording you recommend blows all my previous experiences of Norma out of the water, and that is the one I’ll return to in future. Thank you!
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it will always come a time when one disagrees with a liked author and this is it for me. I can’t stand Bartoli. Nevertheless, great to see a new post. Ever since your excellent post on Wagner this is one of my fav reads. Cheers
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