Rating: 
Summary: great diva sounded pushed
Review: As a big fan of Joan Sutherland, I think she sounds tired and pushed here. Try her 1964 decca recording of Norma instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Sutherland's best
Review: As wonderful as Dame Joan's voice is to me. I never found her singing of Casta Diva to be accurate, I think most of the aria lies in the lower part of the soprano range, and that is tough for her. So she has to push, and there is a beat in her voice in her later years. I also find a lot of off keyed high notes hear, and that is unforgivable in bel canto opera. The golden voice is half gone. I would recommend this only if you've already heard the young Sutherland. We don't want you to think that this is what she sounded when she was the toast of the operatic world. Because this voice on this tape is only 1/2 of the voice she had 10-30 years ago. However, if you want to hear La Stupenda when she was the reigning queen of bel canto, I would recommend the follow VHS tapes. The singing in those are magnificent. The "Voice of Firestone" The "Bell Telephone Hour" The "Age of bel canto"
Rating:
Summary: Get the 1978 version with Elkins as Adalgisa...
Review: Firstly, I agree that Norma is 'not in the same league' as Aida, Rigoletto or Carmen. It is in a league ABOVE any of these except perhaps Carmen! Norma is a true, fully-sung, lyrical opera, not a dramatic play with the speaking parts replaced by ear-piercing recitatives and interspersed with a few paltry arias like most other so-called operas (I could not sit through my Aida DVD). Bellini stands alone in being capable of such a creation, and musically is more akin to Chopin than any opera composer. If only he had lived longer, and if only we had an early Callas performance on DVD! As for this performance, Sutherland's 1978 with Elkins is slightly better, though her Casta Diva was wobbly. Sutherland was already off her peak then, but better than in this 1981 performance. Its also available on DVD but offered here only in VHS format. Caballe has 2 performances available on DVD/VHS too. The one with Vickers/Veasey of 1974 is more beautifully sung, but the 1978 with Cossotto as Adalgisa is the fiery one. And both show Caballe at her prime.
Rating: 
Summary: Norma
Review: I have a very little English. I don't understand well, and I made many mistakes when I try write or speach English. I'd like to buy this DVD, but I need to Know if is possible whash(?) it in DVD PLAYER sold in Brazil. Is it universal process recording, or is specific to United States or Europe? Are you understanding me? Please, answer my question, about Norma and others DVD of your site. Thank you
Rating: 
Summary: The ONLY credible Norma after Callas...
Review: I would never imagine seeing Sutherland having trouble singing even Casta Diva where in the fioritura part she misses some notes... Also her voice has lost its exceptional clarity and its tremendous agility... If any opera newbie should listen to this DVD they could never imagine the tremendous vocal phenomenon Sutherland once was... She overuses her thin lower register in order to be dramatic but that is not enough... Anyhow, what someone would notice is how authoritative Sutherland was and she even sings the high D at the end of the terzetto following the Callas tradition...
Troyannos is extremely good but you can clearly see how she suffers with the role of Adalgisa which is a role written for low sopranos -soprano falcon- not mezzo sopranos. She is certainly no Christa Ludwig but she is truly great in this role. Troyannos is an Adalgisa not to be missed... Sutherland would have been the Singer of the 20th Century if Maria Callas had never appeared...(what wouldn't we give for having the 1952 Covent Garden Callas Norma filmed). Sutherland by singing this untouchable by other sopranos role she proves not only that she was NOT a "tin-pot" coloratura as she used to call pure coloraturas but what a conssumate vocal artist she was...
Rating:
Summary: The Bitter Truth
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: The Bitter Truth
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: The Bitter Truth
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Good dvd
Review: This is a nice presentation of the great Joan Sutherland in one of her greatest roles. She is past her prime and seems quite tired in the last act, but she could probably still sing circles around most sopranos. Troyanos knocks my socks off and the Pollione - Ortiz is quite good. He has a baritonal sound but sings bel canto quite well with some impressive high notes. I prefer this version to the Australian Norma with Sutherland because, although Sutherland's singing is definitely better in the earlier Australia one, Troyanos is better than Elkins as Adalgisa and the tenor in that one is a bit of a 'can belto' guy whereas this Ortiz is quite pleasant to listen to. The production is quite dark, which I personally like, since all of the action takes place at night - it really sets the right tone.
Rating:
Summary: What a disappointment!
Review: This Opera may be considered among the better ones. Not in the league of Aida, or Rigoletto, or Carmen. However, well sung and presented, it can be made to exude magical qualities. With Joan Sutherland (JS) as Norma, and Tatiana Troyanos (TT) as Adalgisa, I expected a thoroughly satisfying experience. I had never before heard of Francisco Ortiz (FO, - as Pollione), but then this Opera is mainly for the lead female singers. What do you have instead? First of all, mono sound! Yes a mono recording made in 1981! Did not stereo recordings become standard in the '50's or '60's? Do the sound engineers (assuming there were any) at the Canadian Opera Company (COC), having failed to record in stereo, not heard of enhancing mono sound for stereo, without any loss in quality. Poor marks for this! Then the lighting! Could the COC not afford to pay their energy bills in the period preceding this presentation? As it is, there appears to be only one spotlight, and that shines brightly on the front and center stage. All else is dark and murky, and depressing. I cannot comment on the stage props or the costumes of almost all of the supporting performers, as they can barely be seen in the all-pervading shadows. Then the performance! It might as well be a series of still photographs, with some movement in the lips to confirm that the performers were all alive and not cardboard cutouts. Was this really why the lighting was turned down? Even so, why were all the shots made from a static position? Did they have cameramen of average competence, to pan the cameras a bit, to put some life in the shots? By the way, both JS and TT were supposed to be temple virgins, but they played what they were at the time - stogy middle-aged. women. FO deservedly did not go very far in the opera world. In that, justice was subsequently done. No libretto was supplied, and this has become standard for DVD presentations. It is needed in this case however, as the English sub-titles (which incidentally, cannot be turned off), are very sparing. A lot of the nuances in the singing were therefore lost. The opera did end eventually, or I should really say, expire. This presentation, which lacked dynamic energy and was quite boring at times, simply fizzled out an the end Then why do I still give it two stars? Simply because JS's singing was generally superb, and so to a lesser extent, was TT's. Viewed as a presentation of arias, and not as a whole opera, there were redeeming moments. Please avoid this DVD, which certainly does not deserve a premium price. Buy something else instead, and wait for another presentation to do some justice to Bellini's good composition.
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