Product Details

• Actors: Joan Sutherland, Tatiana Troyanos, Francisco Ortiz, Justino Díaz, Frances Ginzer
• Directors: Norman Campbell
• Writers: Felice Romani
• Producers: Norman Campbell
• Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: Italian (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Video Artists Int'l
• DVD Release Date: March 20, 2001
• Run Time: 150 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005AAET
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #85,771 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Bellini - Norma / Bonynge, Sutherland, Troyanos, Canadian Opera Company" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fine singing in spite of reviews!, July 18, 2005

By 

D. J. Edwards "donaldjedwards" (Cheshire, CT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bellini - Norma / Bonynge, Sutherland, Troyanos, Canadian Opera Company (DVD)

I find the reviews a real puzzle. It seems that there are two distinct dvds of this Canadian opera production: I have one version and nearly everyone else has another. Sutherland's "casta diva" is not ugly. It is finely sung. There is no strain. The timber is rich as always Forte singing is full, rarely on the edge and always movingly sung. When she joins Troyanos in the duets the singing does become greater. Soft notes are beautiful to hear. If Ortiz as Pollione is not the best, he deserves much more credit than he gets for the good singing that he does deliver. He doesn't sound under parted to me. If a reviewer has to compare him to Corelli or Del Monaco that's their loss. Few can match either of them. Troyanos triumphs as most reviewers agree. Her loss will never be replaced for its sincerity, integrity, beauty of timber and the radiance of her personality. Diaz and the rest of the cast are also fine. I think Bonynge does a really good job with the orchestra. He has often been under-appreciated and unjustly maligned. The overture is a little fast but in general everyone does themselves credit. The four stars I give is with reluctance, it deserves five, but the sound and picture quality are distracting at time. The packaging is up roar. The video is dedicated the memory of Tatiana Troyanos which I thought was a very professional touch. This dvd deserves to be seen and heard. You may not buy it but I don't think you'll regret having heard it either. The Caballe Norma is extraordinary.. Tat l'Orange performance is immortal. Comparisons make us partisans not lovers of beautiful music beautifully sung. I am very happy to have this dvd in my collection.

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sutherland's Norma on DVD -- A Must Have, April 27, 2001

By 

Scott Holmes (Wilmette, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bellini - Norma / Bonynge, Sutherland, Troyanos, Canadian Opera Company (DVD)

This recent release from VAI of Bellini's Norma with Joan Sutherland is a must have for any serious opera video collector. The performance from Toronto on May 4, 1981 features, along with Sutherland, the Adalgisa of Tatiana Troyanos, the Oroveso of Justino Diaz and the Pollione of Francisco Ortiz. Richard Bonynge conducts. The production is traditional (a relief in these days of ghastly, updated, Star Wars/Eurotrash productions), with rocks, spears, robes, Druid warriors in animal skins, with helmets and even horns! But the most important reason to own this video is the pairing of Joan Sutherland and Tatiana Troyanos. There are many wonderful documentations of the Sutherland/Horne duets -- and they are unforgettable, but this rarer coupling is quite exciting because the duets are taken in the original key and at the end of the second duet, Troyanos matches Sutherland on an exultant High C that brings the house down. Watching this and her other videos of Les Troyens, Cavalleria, Don Carlo, and Rosenkavalier from the MET just highlights what a tragic loss her early passing was to the musicworld. Sutherland is in fine voice, warming up as the evening progresses. Her authority and ability to convey the many moods of this heroine silence the critics who say she could not act -- simply look at the expressions on her face when learning of Pollione's betrayal and her subsequent confrontation with him. Ortiz gives a solid performance, though

not a memorable one in the class of Domingo or Carrerras. He is a handsome Pollione and his legs are on show most of the evening. Richard Bonynge's conducting is stylish and idiomatic, always giving the singers enough room for expression and rubato. The subtitles are not removable and there is an intrussive announcer between scenes and at the curtain calls. Video quality is fine (much improved over the "pirate" Beta and VHS tapes which have floated around for years. This performance comes highly recommended although there is no region code listed on the box or on the enclosed and very minimal chapter sheet. Also try and find the ANNA BOLENA which has been released along with this NORMA -- that IS truly a classic with the young James Morris and Judith Forst joining Sutherland with fireworks of their own.

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Bitter Truth, June 9, 2001

By 

Stephen McLeod (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bellini - Norma / Bonynge, Sutherland, Troyanos, Canadian Opera Company (DVD)

Things, as W.B. Yeats famously observed, fall apart. Here in this vale of tears, there is certainly no shortage of reminders, memento mori, that "the center cannot hold." This DVD is, among other things, such a reminder. By 1981, Sutherland's voice had clearly begun its journey south. This performance, with the Canadian Opera Company, betrays an instrument that, while still agile and capable above the staff, is frankly painful to listen to below it. The first 15 minutes or so, then, including the excruciatingly aweful "Casta Diva" should simply be skipped, except by the morbidly curious. Toward the end of Act I, however, Sutherland has warmed up, and there are moments, most notably in the great ensemble pieces, and her opening second act scene, where this recording more than justifies its flawed existence.

That said, there will be too much to forgive for some viewers: impresario Bonynge's pedestrian conducting, the frankly amateur chorus and supporting singers, the Pollione of Fransisco Ortiz, who has nice legs but who may never have had a single musical thought, and the dreadful quality of the videography. Sometimes a night at the opera is as much an act of loyalty as pleasure, and very few singers have as fair a claim to such loyalty as does Sutherland. Buying a video might also be such an act, but no one should be fooled into believing that this video is an exemplary document. It is not.

Of course afficionados will want it anyway, and there is still much to recommend it. First, every time Troyanos took the stage, everything about the production, including Dame Joan's voice, improved. Thus, the vocal highlights of this DVD are certainly the great Norma/Adalgisa duets. Second, even though Sutherland's voice is half-gone (and I can't stress enough how truly painful the "Casta Diva" is on this DVD), in 1981, she still had remarkable chops in the fioritura department. Third, and not least, although there is another Sutherland *Norma* floating around out there on VHS, I believe it's out of print, and it was fairly distressing in its own right anyway. That means that this is the only available video performance of this greatest of all non-Verdi Italian operas.

This DVD gets three stars for one reason only: Troyanos, who lit up my life every moment of this performance in which she appeared, and who coaxed what greatness was left from La Stupenda in the duets. That means you'll probably want to have it despite its flaws. But forewarned is forearmed: If your expectations aren't too high, you'll probably enjoy the virtues of this recording, even while enduring its faults.