Search - Giuseppe Verdi, Nino Sanzogno, Lyric Orchestra of the ORTF :: Verdi: Aida

Very interesting performance

BDSinC | Calgary, Alberta, Canada | 10/20/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Firstly, the reason I gave it but three stars is the sound is quite poor, and Norman often seems to disappear in the lower register, which is actually quite strong in her voice. This is a live performance, and there are actually some super beauties in this recording well worth listening to.



There are tons of AIDA recordings out there, many are much better than this (the best live recording I have listened to is one with Martina Arroyo and Placido Domingo; it is breath taking and the first act trio with AIDA, Radamese, and Amneris is NEVER a mish mash of sound, the timing is perfect and each part perfectly and clearly sung), however, we do have Norman in a role not common to her standard roles. It is just sad that the microphones don't always pick up her very beautiful soft singing to advantage; however, even with the poor quality one is well aware that it must have been a spectacular evening to witness.



When drama is needed, Norman holds her own with Cossotto quite well, even though personally I don't feel their voices blend that well. Cossotto's voice just sounds "too high and bright" next to Norman's. However when they do sing together it is electric, and very moving. The real challenge for AIDA is the "Oh Patria Mia" aria, which is really only one moment of many, but it is the aria by which an AIDA is judged. Norman's high C is not perfectly secure, but it is by no means forced, pushed, swallowed, out of pitch, wavering, or badly sung. We are not listening to a Tebaldi screaming her way through the note. Although Norman is not as delicate as Caballe in this passage, she doesn't really sing it full voiced as do most AIDAS. It is sweet and etherial, but not quite as one is used to from Caballe or Milanov.



The tenor who sings Radamese is acceptable, actually quite good, though I have never heard of him. There are times he sounds a bit strained, like he is overcrowding with breath, but on the whole he is far better than just acceptable. He is less vocally secure than Pavarotti, and less dramatic and heroic than Domingo, but still very touching in his duet with AIDA.



I find the conducting very sensitive, and for the most part this is not a "Grand" AIDA, but rather an intimate one. Excepting the Triumphal Scene, all of the score is really duets and solos. I have never seen the Nile Scene played with as much tenderness combined with a sweet sadness. Even AIDA's duet with her father, which is very intense, has a very "tragic sorrow" underpinning it in the most tender parts.



There is magic in the triumphal scene, and it ends with the deepest sense of rejection possible reflecting AIDA's shock and sorrow at having Radamese given to Amneris to wed. Cossotto certainly has made the role of Amneris her own, and in ever recording she has made (and she is in the other live recording I mentioned as well, and sings with far more security than this one) she seems to dominate one's memory of all other singers who have attempted the role. To me, it seems though she is not really off pitch on the higher notes, she is not exactly certain of pitch either. There is some evidence of "forcing" to create the sound needed. That said, it is not ever painful to listen to or to experience. What vocal defects age is showing in her presentation are well compensated for in what we experience in theatre. I never really liked her in any of her studio recordings of this part, but in all her live performances she simple smolders. This recording is no exception. The problem again is the sound. There are moments where we are simply being taken away with the drama and the sound dims.



I would recommend this recording to all Norman fans, as this is most likely the only recording of AIDA one will ever find with her in it. Her career is nearing its end, and since her career was one where the standard operas were seldom sung, it is interesting to hear her in what other singers consider their bread and butter roles, and it is certain we will most likely never see a studio version of this opera recorded by her before she decides to retire. Even though she was simply wonderful at what she did do, she would have not been any less wonderful even if her career was made up of all the same role Leontyne Price sang; she could have easily held her own in all the standard repertoire. However, had she stayed with the standard operas, we would never have experienced all the gems she did record.



If you are not into live recordings, and if the quality of sound really can bother you, then this is not the recording for you. However, if you can hear past all that, you will come away with something new that perhaps you never thought was possible is a work so often recorded and sung."