2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
NOT ONE OF THE GREAT NORMAS, November 2, 2009
This review is from: Norma (Audio CD)
I love NORMA! I believe it to be one of a distinguished few perfect operas. I've seen it a few times and have even performed in the chorus with Pittsburgh Opera when we were priviledged to have Cristina Deutekom as NORMA. I have a least 12 recordings both studio and live. I tend to prefer Callas, Caballe, Cerquetti, Deutekom, Verret and Milanov as truly great Normas! This one is an also ran. To begin with the four leads all are in the wrong opera. This is bel canto not verismo. It starts off rough with Vinco not in the best of voice doing all kind of vowel manipulations to just get through it at a constant FORTE! Next, comes Del Monaco in excellent Otello voice brawling his heart out and holding on to high notes forever. His singing is a stylistic nightmare. Now enters Elinor Ross as NORMA. I'm a fan of Ross. I heard and saw her do a phenominal TURANDOT at the MET and FORZA and TOSCA. She is vocally just not right for NORMA. The high notes tend to spread, the vibrato seems a bit too fast, and the tone is a bit muffled. Cossotto enters next and she is also in huge EXCELLENT AMNERIS voice. She seems to want to rely on volume alone. The duets with Ross don't truly blend. Now the conducting and sound are very good. The only problem is that this is one MISCAST singer after another. I almost got a headache from listening to this performance complete. IT SURELY IS NORMA ON STEROIDS!!!
NOTE: 1/18/2011 Recently I was able to obtain the 1967 Berlin DVD with Ross and Del Monaco with Giovanna Vighi as Adalgisa and Massimiliano Malaspina as Oroveso in clear B&W and in very good sound. In this performance everyone sings wonderfully especially Ross and the Mezzo-Vighi. Even Del Monaco is better; but Ross is magnificent! You owe it to yourself to track a pirate DVD down of this performance from the previous year. The performance will astound you with its better singing and a better Adalgisa and Oroveso. Very Good sound and clear Black and White. It's worth looking for. It truly is an all around improvement over this 1968 Cd set.
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