Bellini - Norma / Bonynge, Sutherland, Troyanos, Canadian Opera Company

Rating:
Summary: Excellent performance and good sound quality
Review: This performance by Joan Sutherland shows her at her best in a role she made her own. Even though she starts the night on a low key, things speed up. (This is bel canto and Norma is heavy stuff). Troyanos almost steals the show with a show-stopper Adalgisa. Diaz as Oroveso is at his very best and Ortiz as Pollione is serviceable.

Rating:
Summary: Sutherland's Norma on DVD -- A Must Have
Review: This recent release from VAI of Bellini's Norma with Joan Sutherland is a must have for any serious opera video collector. The performance from Toronto on May 4, 1981 features, along with Sutherland, the Adalgisa of Tatiana Troyanos, the Oroveso of Justino Diaz and the Pollione of Francisco Ortiz. Richard Bonynge conducts. The production is traditional (a relief in these days of ghastly, updated, Star Wars/Eurotrash productions), with rocks, spears, robes, Druid warriors in animal skins, with helmets and even horns! But the most important reason to own this video is the pairing of Joan Sutherland and Tatiana Troyanos. There are many wonderful documentations of the Sutherland/Horne duets -- and they are unforgettable, but this rarer coupling is quite exciting because the duets are taken in the original key and at the end of the second duet, Troyanos matches Sutherland on an exultant High C that brings the house down. Watching this and her other videos of Les Troyens, Cavalleria, Don Carlo, and Rosenkavalier from the MET just highlights what a tragic loss her early passing was to the musicworld. Sutherland is in fine voice, warming up as the evening progresses. Her authority and ability to convey the many moods of this heroine silence the critics who say she could not act -- simply look at the expressions on her face when learning of Pollione's betrayal and her subsequent confrontation with him. Ortiz gives a solid performance, though

not a memorable one in the class of Domingo or Carrerras. He is a handsome Pollione and his legs are on show most of the evening. Richard Bonynge's conducting is stylish and idiomatic, always giving the singers enough room for expression and rubato. The subtitles are not removable and there is an intrussive announcer between scenes and at the curtain calls. Video quality is fine (much improved over the "pirate" Beta and VHS tapes which have floated around for years. This performance comes highly recommended although there is no region code listed on the box or on the enclosed and very minimal chapter sheet. Also try and find the ANNA BOLENA which has been released along with this NORMA -- that IS truly a classic with the young James Morris and Judith Forst joining Sutherland with fireworks of their own.

Rating:
Summary: Good dvd
Review: Troyanos is the most exciting presence and singer in this production. Both Norma (Sutherland) and Pollione are not great, but they are more exciting when Troyanos is on stage. Sutherland must have been history by the time this was made. I have heard her on cd's and I know her voice was tremendous. This DVD does not convey at all why she became famous and was called "La Stupenda." Not at all.
The only thing I can say about Pollione is he looks pretty good in short armour, remembering he's supposed to be a warrior (therefore solid looking); his singing did not interest me.
The production itself is not so great: the sound vanishes periodically (during arias!) and the sub-titles are erratic at best, vanishing for whole chunks of time. I would not buy another disc from this company unless I were certain that production values (and subtitles) were better and the star singers in better form.

Rating:
Summary: Not a great Norma or Sutherland
Review: Troyanos is the most exciting presence and singer in this production. Both Norma (Sutherland) and Pollione are not great, but they are more exciting when Troyanos is on stage. Sutherland must have been history by the time this was made. I have heard her on cd's and I know her voice was tremendous. This DVD does not convey at all why she became famous and was called "La Stupenda." Not at all.
The only thing I can say about Pollione is he looks pretty good in short armour, remembering he's supposed to be a warrior (therefore solid looking); his singing did not interest me.
The production itself is not so great: the sound vanishes periodically (during arias!) and the sub-titles are erratic at best, vanishing for whole chunks of time. I would not buy another disc from this company unless I were certain that production values (and subtitles) were better and the star singers in better form.

Rating:
Summary: More info needeed
Review: Who can provide more information about this DVD, such as cast and conductor, etc.? Thanks.