Audio CD review:
Vincenzo Bellini, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Tullio Serafin, Maria Callas, Christa Ludwig, Franco Corelli, Nicola Zaccaria, Piero de Palma - Bellini - Norma / Maria Callas, Ludwig, Corelli, Zaccaria, Teatro alla Scala, Serafin

Vincenzo Bellini, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Tullio Serafin, Maria Callas, Christa Ludwig, Franco Corelli, Nicola Zaccaria, Piero de Palma - Bellini - Norma / Maria Callas, Ludwig, Corelli, Zaccaria, Teatro alla Scala, Serafin

Band: Vincenzo Bellini, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Tullio Serafin, Maria Callas, Christa Ludwig, Franco Corelli, Nicola Zaccaria, Piero de Palma Title: Bellini - Norma / Maria Callas, Ludwig, Corelli, Zaccaria, Teatro alla Scala, Serafin Rating: Release Date: 17 March, 1998 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Norma: Sinfonia 2: Norma: Act One - Scene One : Ite sul colle...Dell'aura tua profetica (Oroveso) 3: Norma: Svanir le voci! (Pollione) 4: Norma: Meco all'altar di Venere (Pollione) 5: Norma: Odi?.. I suoi riti a compiere (Flavio, Coro, Pollione) 6: Norma: Me protegge, me difende (Pollione) 7: Norma: Norma viene 8: Norma: Sediziose voci 9: Norma: Casta Diva 10: Norma: Fine al rito, e il sacro bosco 11: Norma: Ah! bello a me ritorna (Norma, Oroveso) 12: Norma: Sgombra e la sacra selva (Adalgisa) 13: Norma: Eccola - va, mi lascia 14: Norma: Va, crudele 15: Norma: Vieni in Roma (Pollione, Adalgisa) 16: Norma: Act One - Scene Two : Vanne, e li cela entrambi (Norma) 17: Norma: Adalgisa!.. Alma, costanza 18: Norma: Oh, rimembranza! 19: Norma: Ah si, fa core, abbracciami (Norma, Adalgisa) 20: Norma: Ma di'... l'amato giovine 21: Norma: Oh, di qual sei tu vittima 22: Norma: Perfido! ... Or basti! (Norma, Adalgisa, Pollione) 23: Norma: Vanne, si, mi lascia, indegno (Norma, Pollione, Adalgisa, Coro) 24: Norma: Act Two - Scene One : Introduzione 25: Norma: Dormono entrambi! (Norma) 26: Norma: Ola! Clotilde (Norma, Clotilde) 27: Norma: Mi chiami, o Norma? 28: Norma: Deh, con te, con te li prendi 29: Norma: Mira, o Norma 30: Norma: Cedi ... deh cedi! 31: Norma: Si, fino all'ore estreme (Adalgisa, Norma) 32: Norma: Acto Two - Scene Two : Non parti? (Coro) 33: Norma: Guerrieri! a voi venirne 34: Norma: Ah!, del Tebro al giogo indegno (Oroveso) 35: Norma: Acto Two - Scene Three : Ei tornera, Si! (Norma) 36: Norma: Squilla il bronzo del Dio! (Oroveso, Norma) 37: Norma: Guerra! guerra! 38: Norma: Ne compi li rito, o Norma? (Oroveso, Norma, Pollione) 39: Norma: In mia man alfin ti sei 40: Norma: Gia mi pasco ne' tuoi sguardi (Norma, Pollione) 41: Norma: Dammi quel ferro! 42: Norma: Qual cor tradisti 43: Norma: Norma! deh! Norrma, scolpati! 44: Norma: Deh! Non volerli vittime (Norma, Pollione, Oroveso)

Customer Reviews all-star cast Owners of the Schirmer piano score, watch out for cuts from page 44 to 48, 76 to 80, and 106 to 107. This recording is exactly what you would expect from an all-star cast. The endings of bth acts are also different. 2 Callas Normas. Which to get. Get them both. If you are trying to decide between the two studio recordings of Norma with Callas, I offer some advice. The later recording is quite beautiful and better recorded. The earlier has a fresher sounding Callas but she does have more dramatic insight in that later recording. Ludwig is a nice treat in a bel-canto role. Overall, I highly recommend!. Greater Depth or Neccessary Caution? It features three all time favorite singers of mine, Callas, Ludwig and Corelli, and yet I had very mixed feelings about it. This is a strange recording for me. Some have called Callas's performance here more refined than the earlier recording and the famous live performances. I would characterize her performance as slightly cautious. Her Norma is older, wiser and a bit on the weathered side. I wonder how much of the refinement was her own sense of having to compensate for her voice which was in the final stages of decline. I expected a certain degree of the recklessness that she displayed in her second Tosca recording that was made a few years later. Here she seems to be carefully phrasing at times as to not hurt something. But, despite the vocal decline, not just the high notes but the tone, her mastery of the style and ease with which she handles the coloratura passages, is still a miraculous listening experience. I'm glad I have the recording and the current edition is warmer than the original CD release. This was the only opportunity for Callas, Corelli and Ludwig to make a commercial recording together, and Corelli and Ludwig are wonderful, although too bad EMI was unable to get Simionatto. But if you're familiar with the earlier recording (which by the way is only available at the moment in an awful GROTC edition) and the live performances, you might miss the broad strokes, I do, but it is still a worthy listening experience. When is Callas not? Never as far as I'm concerned. I would have loved to have rated this 5 stars, but 4 seems more appropriate. It's a fine but not a great recording. . . You can see a complete list of all Vincenzo Bellini, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Tullio Serafin, Maria Callas, Christa Ludwig, Franco Corelli, Nicola Zaccaria, Piero de Palma discography, or go back to the Vincenzo Bellini, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Tullio Serafin, Maria Callas, Christa Ludwig, Franco Corelli, Nicola Zaccaria, Piero de Palma tabs