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Edita Gruberova Gives NORMA A New Voice

This DVD is of a live performance of Vincenzo Bellini’s opera, Norma, from Nationaltheater at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Germany in January/February 2006. This performance uses the uncut autograph version of the opera, with all the music sung in original key (the commonly used Ricordi version transposes much of Norma’s and Adalgisa’s music down a step).

The story is set around 50 BC Gaul (modern day France), and centers on how the Druid high priestess Norma deals with the lost of her lover, the Roman Proconsul Pollione, with whom she had compromised her own vow of chastity resulting in 2 secret children. Her anguish at finding out that her romantic rival is none other than her young friend Adalgisa is further complicated by the boiling hostility between the French druids toward their Roman occupiers and the power Norma wields as the druid leader who gets to designate the victim of their blood sacrifice, and command her people to war.

Faced with the choice to either use her authority to destroy her friend and ex-lover, or to sacrifice herself, Norma finds that love does indeed conquer all (though it can’t put out the flame). A dramatically soggy plot, I know, but with Bellini’s astoundingly beautiful vocal writing and masterfully pictorial orchestration, even a can of century old spam can be turned into a dish fit for kings Click here for a more complete synopsis.

CAST:
Norma (Druidess High Priest) ::: Edita Gruberova (soprano)
Adalgisa (A supposedly virgin Druid priestess) ::: Sonia Ganassi (mezzo soprano)
Pollione (Roman Proconsul who can’t seem to leave priestesses alone) ::: Zoran Todorovich (tenor)
Oroveso (Chief Druid, Norma’s father) ::: Roberto Scandiuzzi (bass)
Flavio (Pollione’s friend) ::: Markus Herzog (tenor)
Clotilde (Norma’s confidante) ::: Cynthia Jansen (mezzo soprano)
Conductor ::: Friedrich Haider / Bavarian State Orchestra
Chorus Master :: Andres Maspero / Chorus of the Bavarian State Opera
Stage Director ::: Jürgen Rose, Video Director: Brian Large

This staging is what one would expect from the Bavarian State Opera these days (I like most of their productions, but if you prefer lavish and colorful opera staging, Munich in the 21st Century isn’t the place for you). It is dark, minimalistic and rather conceptual in style. The set is a fixed 2 story platform with a hanging gong on the 2nd floor. For what it’s worth, the dark atmosphere of the set does fit the location of the story.... think Highlander or Stonehenge... Barren and dark, quite effective at keeping our attention on the singers.

Costume is a time-warping one. The Druid men resemble spear-carrying Japanese or Chinese soldiers from pre-WW II era to me, with the priests in long cape and skull cap. The Druid women are in black/blue nun habit (Norma wears a bright blue habit and wearing a metal contraption hat that gives me the weird idea that they’d use it to electrocute this Norma if she misses her high notes). The 2 Romans (Pollione and Flavio) look like AK-47 carrying time travelers in their more modern cream colored attire (like what Qaddafi likes to wear). I suppose there's a message there about the contrast between the primitive Druids and the more militarily sophisticated Romans... or maybe I just haven't got a good sense for fashion.

The singers get to move up and down the stair between the 2 levels a lot, though other than that the stage direction for the principals tend to be rather static. That’s not necessarily a bad thing in bel canto opera where any unsteadiness in the singing voice is easily heard due to light orchestra accompaniment.

To see photos from this production, go to: http://www.moviereporter.net/images/845/bellini_norma.html

The great contralto/composer Pauline Viardot-Garcia used to describe the voice of Giuditta Pasta, the original Norma, as, “it is like the Cenacolo of da Vinci at Milan.... a wreck of a picture, but it is the greatest picture in the world ” (quoted by the French writer Stendhal, AKA Marie-Henri Beyle). Well, there is nothing wrecked about the voice of Edita Gruberova in this show. Long in a class of her own when it comes to vocal and technical security in stratospheric high passages, there is now some minor unsteadiness hinting at efforts in those region. I should note; however, that this is not optimum only when compared to Frau Gruberova’s own established standard. There are loads of high soprani half her age who would kill to be as steady as she is here (59 yrs old when this recording was made).

Where many soprani have to sing their high notes loudly because that’s the only way they can hit them, this Czech-Swiss phenomenon can sing those high notes in full voice while doing all the variations of messa di voce (varying the loudness of the same held note), breath-taking pianissimo, and other virtuoso tricks. And all the money you spend to get this recording is paid for by the 15 minute mark when she is done with her 1st aria, ‘Casta diva’. Where else would you hear such well supported high pianissimo (softly sung high notes that don’t sound like she’s strangling... the tones have plenty of air supporting them) with endless breath? All the vocal effects Bellini calls for are delivered splendidly and used dramatically to draw out the psychological turmoil Norma experiences through out the opera. The voice is surprisingly youthful and dramatic in the middle, and even quite solid in low passages.

Frau Gruberova may appear physically rather aged for the role and she really isn’t a natural actress, but one doesn’t go to the opera or buy a recording to look at the performer. At any rate, all the emotions Norma experiences is well projected in the her singing (no small feat considering her light-ish voice). The music is the main entree, and this serving is a feast of a meal indeed. This is not the 2nd Maria Callas or Joan Sutherland or Zinka Milanov. Edita Gruberova is a different kind of Norma, and she is spectacular in her own ways.

As her friend/competitor Adalgisa is the wonderful Italian mezzo Sonia Ganassi. As much as I wish for my all time favorite singer, Vesselina Kasarova, to get cast in this role opposite her mentor Frau Gruberova instead, Sra Ganassi proves herself magnificent in her own right. Her powerful yet warm and welcoming dark liquid gold of a mezzo voice has many colors and she shades it very aptly to bring out her character’s youth, innocence, and guilty conscience very effectively. As with Frau Gruberova, Sra Ganassi sings the entire role in original key, coping very nicely with the very high tessitura (average pitch) of the role that was written for a lyric soprano (the original Adalgisa was Giulia Grisi, the original Elvira in Bellini’s ‘I Puritani’), but is often sung by a mezzo soprano today.

It is a real treat to hear their 2 duets where the 2 voices blend with such sublime virtuosity. Really.... the rest of the cast can sing like drowning fish (which they don’t), and this DVD would still be a good buy on the strength of the 2 ladies’ performance. Brave

Zoran Todorovich is a vocally imposing Pollione with his pingingly big tenor voice. I’d have appreciated more variation in his singing volume. This isn’t a Wagner opera, after all, and loudness is no substitute for intensity. A loud note is only ever a loud note, but an intense note is intense regardless of its volume. He is more subtle in his acting, however, and that is a plus.

Roberto Scandiuzzi as Norma’s dad, Oroveso, copes well aside from his vibrato on high passages (it is more a tremolo rather than vibrato, really... sounding a shaky reed instead of a pulsing police siren). Markus Herzog’s Flavio and Cynthia Jansen’s Clotilde are solid in their minor roles. The Chorus lags a bit after the orchestra in the opening number, but sing beautifully otherwise and the Bavarian State Orchestra is very responsive to Maestro Friedrich Haider’s lively and sensitive reading. His orchestra sound is more substantial than I’m used to, but he really knows how to support the voices well and is flexible in tempo-setting.

All in all, this is one of the best Norma performance available on CD or DVD. Frau Gruberova is her own Norma, which gives us a nice variation from that of Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland, Zinka Milanov, or Montserrat Caballe. If you are a fan of bel canto opera, you really can’t afford to miss this DVD!

2 DVDs. NTSC format region 2. Run-time: 155 minutes. Extra: ‘Making of’ documentary on DVD1.
Sung in Italian with subtitle in: English, Italian, German, French, Spanish, Chinese. Booklet contains cast list, track list, and synopsis in English, German, and French.

Some other Bellini opera:
Beatrice di tenda, I Capuleti e I Montecchi

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12