Rating: 
Summary: A bravura performance marred by Neolithic recording quality.
Review:
One could summarize this production of Norma as a bravura performance marred by Neolithic recording quality. To assign a meaningful numerical rating that will help you decide whether or not you would like it requires knowledge of how much importance you attach to sound and picture. For those who cherish their Furtwangler and Toscanini, this becomes a five star DVD, whereas others who feel that the world has uncovered enough great talent in forty-seven years of stereo recording that they shouldn't have to put up with mono sound, this will rate as a one star DVD. As an only Norma, it is less likely to please.
What do I mean by Neolithic? Théâtre Antique d'Orange is an open-air venue and thus the worst place to record an opera video. The orchestra sounds like they're two blocks away and when the wind whips up and batters the mike a dull rumble camouflages the pianissimi. The singers suffer less, but the mono sound rings cavernous and tinny. Poor lighting, usually from two spotlights, leaves most of the stage buried in shadow and the background setting, in the rare moments when light exhumes it, emerges in nebulous blotches of color. The picture too looks blurry and because the lighting comes from the front, the side angle shots introduce further confusion, losing faces and figures in shadow.
Despite the fog of technical defects, one can readily discern an inspired performance from a trio of voices expansive enough to meet the daunting challenge of filling a spacious amphitheater with music on a windy night. Delicately nuanced shading of dynamics, velvety timbre, and winged coloratura---all gild the endearing Norma of Montserrat Caballé. The "Casta diva" in smooth undulations shimmers with sacral splendor. I part company with critics who, deaf to the fortissimo of subtlety, deem harshness essential to expressiveness and dismiss her as all beauty and no emotion, as if the two were mutually exclusive. Her Norma is deeply moving, heartbreaking in the Medea scene that opens act two and the final three pieces that close the opera.
A nimble, graceful, and impassioned voice, Josephine Veasey pairs especially well with Caballé and creates a memorable Adalgisa. At first consideration, Jon Vickers and bel canto would seem to go together like strawberry ice cream and liverwurst. After all, one doesn't light a candle with a blowtorch. Nonetheless, I was pleasantly surprised by the fiery tenor, who modulates this explosive apparatus of his to offer a robust and satisfying Pollione. Then too, one needs a blowtorch to light a candle on a windswept night such as this.
The primordial struggle of man versus the elements lends this performance an heroic quality---one I would gleefully exchange for a roof, floodlights, and stereo.
Rating: 
Summary: The most heartbreaking Norma - landmark performance!
Review: After the legendary Callas performances, the world indeed thought everything about Norma had been said. Yet along came Montserrat Caballe who discovered a whole new way to portrait this wonderful character. This is arguably her best performance and how lucky we are that it was videotaped! When I listen to Callas' Norma, what impresses me is Callas' drama but when I listen to Caballe what I hear is Bellini's drama! This is what makes Caballe stand out! She uses the drama that Bellini has injected in his music. Take the cavatina and cabaletta; in the prayer she sounds serene but when hoping for the return of Pollione her singing is filled with love and anticipation. The entire performance is full of similar examples. Can you imagine a more convincing mother? During teneri o figli when she spins those tear-jerking pianissimos that make me wish I were that child in her arms! They might be pianissimos, but they fill the entire theatre! Then in "in mia man alfin" and "gia me posco" at first Bellini's music is brutal and so is Caballe, taking advantage of her spinto qualities. Notice how firm and strong she sounds. As soon as Norma gets what she wants, the music changes and so does Caballe's singing! Her lighter, lovelier voice shows Norma's contentment. By the end of the performance she had me sitting in front of my TV set in tears! Her plead to Oroveso is heartbreaking! No wonder it woke his fatherly instinct. NEVER before have I heard Norma's emotions being delivered with such intelligence and musicality. Her movements are few and sincere. Her physical acting is based more on hand gestures and facial expressions and in my opinion this suits a high priestess well. It makes Norma look authoritative and disciplined in front of her people. Caballe's Adalgisa, the less famous Veasey is superb. They wisely dressed her up in white to make Adalgisa look younger than Norma and it works! Her usually light voice also helps contrary to other low or matrony mezzo voices. She compliments Caballe's Norma wonderfully and their duets are ravishing. Veasey's stage presence is not always interesting but shows Adalgisa's anxiety and insecurities. Vickers has a big voice but too often sounds snarly while his poor Italian accent is again obvious. Noticeable is also how much effort he makes to sing some passages especially when you see Caballe next to him singing like a machine. She by the way has no trouble coping with Jon's Wagnerian power. Ferrin finally is a noble Oroveso. Patane is a both sensitive and grand conductor. What a glorious evening! I wish I were there to applaud them and especially the grand Monsterrat!
Rating: 
Summary: Better than Sutherland's videos of Norma, and Callas'
Review: But it's disappointing to me. I find Caballe to be very off in pitch. The high notes are not focus and the coloratura effortful and inaccurate. The "Casta diva" is sublime". But the cabaletta afterward started a downward turn for this Norma. I don't know if Caballe had an ear infection or what, but she is off pitch so often that I can't listen to this. Her duets with Veasey don't seem to blend to me either. But the biggest flaw with this Norma besides Caballe's off night is having a heldentenor singing a bel canto role. Vickers is a great tenor, but he is no Pollione. He looks rediculous next to Caballe, who looked like a Mama Cass from "The Mamas and the Papas" in Druid clothing. No wonder Pollione preferred Adagisa. Sorry, but this is a video, and Caballe looks funny.
Stick to a cd version instead. But at all cost stay away from Callas' Normas, they are all hype, I have two of them, I know.I suggest you try the cd recording of Christina Deutekom's Norma, now that's exciting.
Rating:
Summary: Callas' actual words...
Review: Callas never said she loved Caballe's Norma... Caballe says that Callas told her that she made Norma look so Beautifull...
I never doubted Caballe's ability to make even Salome sound Beautiful... But I am afraid guys this is not the point in opera you know...
Rating:
Summary: Callas' actual words...
Review: Callas never said she loved Caballe's Norma... Caballe says that Callas told her that she made Norma look so Beautifull...
I never doubted Caballe's ability to make even Salome sound Beautiful... But I am afraid guys this is not the point in opera you know... I wonder why I even bother to answer to such a bunch of ignorants in here...
Rating: 
Summary: Great but Flawed
Review: I love Montserrat Caballe and have been an avid fan since her first records came out in the 60's. She had it in her to have been, vocally, the greatest Norma ever. This performance showcases all her virtues but, alas, also some flaws that take away from its greatness. She has phenomenal breath control, soars effortlessly above the staff at any dynamic level, produces an even, velvety, rich sound throughout the range, and can snarl with impressive chest voice when the drama requires it. On the negative side, her intonation is flawed throughout a lot of the performance. This is particularly true in Casta Diva, an aria that, as far as the many recordings of her singing of it that I own, was problematic for her. Part of the pitch problems throughout the rest of the performance are due to her exaggerated use of portamento: sometimes the intonation suffers because she doesn't allow the pitch to reach its center, before she's sliding into the next one. The fast coloratura passages are usually rushed, without any of the elegant, flexible phrasing that Callas could produce so musically and expressively. Maybe it's too much to ask, but someone who could produce the miraculous singing that is present throughout a lot of this fiendishly difficult role should have better intonation and rhythmic sophistication. But, these are some of the contradictions that characterize this otherwise very great soprano. The film is generally very effective, although the soundtrack is not always in synch. The high winds that were evident during this outdoor performance add to the mood and the drama. Dramatically, Caballe is best in the last act. The rest of the cast will not go down in history as paragons of belcanto style, although Ferrin is a very affecting Oroveso, and Vickers an unsubtle yet ardent Pollione. Josephine Veasy as Adalgisa rises to the occasion, but she seems uncomfortable with a lot of the music. Patane allows the music to flow freely and gives sympathetic support to the singers. I guess the perfect Norma might never exist. It would take someone who encompassed the best of Callas and Caballe rolled into one singer (Ponselle?). For lack of a Callas Norma on film, grab this DVD, it's the best there is.
Rating:
Summary: A Must See - Must Own Performance!
Review: I purchased this DVD after reading an unqualified review of it in Opera News, and I wasn't disappointed. Caballe's perfect use of gentle rubato and elegant phrasing were a revelation and must surely must be how the composer intended the work to be sung, always sounding so natural and movingly effective. One should remember that Chopin in trying to instruct his pupils on phrasing suggested they go to the opera and listen to Bellini! (Chopin admired Bellini to the extent that he also requested he be buried next to Bellini!) And to me, this performance is a lesson in interpretation that harkens back to that romantic age. Comparisons with Callas are unnecessary and irrelevant. Callas herself saw the first commerical release of this performance as a film in Paris, commented on how beautiful Caballe looked in the film, then called Caballe and commented on the performance and "the greatness of your service both to the music and the character." Callas later sent Caballe the earings Visconti had given her on the occassion of her own 1955 performances of Norma at La Scala. Even Callas knew that no one "owns" a role exclusively as has been suggested in some of the other comments. Norma is a noble but dramatically reserved work. But within that style, she shows true passion and fury in her interactions with Pollione and is so very moving near the end as she pleads with her father - unequalled really, in that scene. The other cast members are not the revelation that Caballe is in the role, but they are good. Vickers is an interesting though somewhat unusual in the role of Pollione. The outdoor theater is a magnificant setting and the costumes stunningly beautiful and effective. It was a cold and windy evening, but hey, its a live outdoor performance, and the added virtues of a live performance often outway the disadvantages unless one is just seriously limited to accepting only perfectly commercially recorded Cd's. It is not a studio recording, nor represented as such, but the sound is fine enough to never seriously distract from the performance. My God! we are lucky to have this preserved and available!
Rating:
Summary: A Must See - Must Own Performance!
Review: I purchased this DVD after reading an unqualified review of it in Opera News, and I wasn't disappointed. Caballe's perfect use of gentle rubato and elegant phrasing were a revelation and must surely must be how the composer intended the work to be sung, always sounding so natural and movingly effective. One should remember that Chopin in trying to instruct his pupils on phrasing suggested they go to the opera and listen to Bellini! (Chopin admired Bellini to the extent that he also requested he be buried next to Bellini!) And to me, this performance is a lesson in interpretation that harkens back to that romantic age. Comparisons with Callas are unnecessary and irrelevant. Callas herself saw the first commerical release of this performance as a film in Paris, commented on how beautiful Caballe looked in the film, then called Caballe and commented on the performance and "the greatness of your service both to the music and the character." Callas later sent Caballe the earings Visconti had given her on the occassion of her own 1955 performances of Norma at La Scala. Even Callas knew that no one "owns" a role exclusively as has been suggested in some of the other comments. Norma is a noble but dramatically reserved work. But within that style, she shows true passion and fury in her interactions with Pollione and is so very moving near the end as she pleads with her father - unequalled really, in that scene. The other cast members are not the revelation that Caballe is in the role, but they are good. Vickers is an interesting though somewhat unusual in the role of Pollione. The outdoor theater is a magnificant setting and the costumes stunningly beautiful and effective. It was a cold and windy evening, but hey, its a live outdoor performance, and the added virtues of a live performance often outway the disadvantages unless one is just seriously limited to accepting only perfectly commercially recorded Cd's. It is not a studio recording, nor represented as such, but the sound is fine enough to never seriously distract from the performance. My God! we are lucky to have this preserved and available!
Rating:
Summary: Just the best thing you are ever likely to see.
Review: I saw a clip from this film many years ago on a late night TV documentary on the career of Caballe. I have been trying to track down a copy for years and so when I saw this DVD on sale in the Royal Opera House Shop (Covent Garden) I snapped it up. I have to tell you it one of the best things I have seen or heard. Gramphone Magazine (March 2003) describes Pierre Jordan's film as "a priceless document in the history of opera.", and that is no exageration. How different from that travesty of a DVD from Orange with Birgit Nilson in Tristan und Isolde.
Caballe's performance is just perfection personified, I can say no more, and Gramphone's comment that "the others in the cast are worthy partners, and that says much, though they all individually deserve more" is so true. Except they deserve much much more, Josephine Veasy makes a very moving Adalgisa and Jon Vickers a heroic Pollione - in fact the whole thing is just superb. On the down side (although this is really not a problem) the sound isn't fully syncronised - but the camera keeps a distance that adds even more atmosphere to this wind swept production and so you hardly notice the pour lip synch. As for the Mistral, for once I welcome it's presence - the production team couldn't have planned it better. I hope you buy this DVD, and that you get as much pleasure out of it as we have. Caballe describes it as "the greatest single performance of her career", and one can't argue with the great lady. Her Cast Diva is sublime, and it's hardly believable but she gets better and better throughout the preformance. A wonderful document of a very special night in the history of opera.
Rating:
Summary: Please, please stop!
Review: I think this is the best Norma-video we have with Caballe in breathtaking form. One can accuse her of being non dramatic but not here IMHO. She sounds and acts fabulous. Veasy is absolutely lovely as Adalgisa and Vickers quite good as Pollione. I love the wind caressing the beautiful costumes and the flowing hair of Caballe. Callas saw this video and loved it so much that she sent Caballe the earrings she was wearing when she opened the La Scala season as Norma in 1955. Please stop fighting! Lets have peace! This is SO hurtful.
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