Above: Sondra Radvanovsky as Norma, a Metropolitan Opera photo
Monday October 7th, 2013 - Wanting to hear Sondra Radvanovsky's Norma in-house but not interested in seeing The Met's uninspiring production again, I took a score desk for this evening's performance. The soprano, with one of the few truly distinctive voices to be heard in opera these days, had a spectacular personal triumph.
NORMA, one of the great bel canto masterworks, has not fared well at The Met in the 21st century. The current production premiered in 2001 with Jane Eaglen in the title-role - music which did not suit her well at that point in her career. I attended the opening night where Eaglen tried her best, but the odds were against her. And Dolora Zajick, in astonishing voice and displaying an unexpected mastery of piano singing and of fiorature as Adalgisa, stole the show completely. Later, Hasmik Papian and Maria Guleghina appeared as Norma in revivals; neither of them seemed to have the chops for this fiendishly demanding music.
My own experiences with NORMA go back to my earliest days as an opera-lover when a friend played me his reel-to-reel tape of the 1955 La Scala opening night performance of the opera with Callas, Simionato, del Monaco and Zaccaria conducted by Antonio Votto. It's never been surpassed in my estimation as my favorite recording of an Italian opera. Simionato later spoke of the extreme tension in the theater that night as the Callas detractors attempted to de-rail the great diva's performance; but Callas prevailed, and it stands as one of her greatest accomplishments. Within two years, she was en route to a serious vocal decline.
Onstage, my first Norma was Shirley Verrett: TJ and I had made a trip to Boston in 1976 to experience Verrett's triumphant first Norma, and a few years later my friend Paul and I were literally moved to tears by one of Verrett's last performances of the role (also in Boston, for Sarah Caldwell's company). Cristina Deutekom gave an idiosyncratic but thrilling performance as Norma in 1978 at The Bushnell in Hartford. Renata Scotto had a disastrous opening night at the Met in 1981, attempting the role about a decade past her vocal peak; but I saw her a few months later when The Met took NORMA on tour to Boston and found much to like in the Scotto interpretation, most especially her authentic way with the words and the dynamics. At New York City Opera, Olivia Stapp was an exciting if somehat veristic Norma; and a now-forgotten soprano named Winifred Faix Brown was very impressive in the role.
I had somehow managed to miss both Sutherland and Caballe as Norma at The Met though I heard their broadcasts and tapes of their in-house performances. They stand as the role's greatest interpreters of the 'New Met' era. Sondra Radvanovsky follows in their footsteps as the most vocally satisfying Norma heard at The Met since 1976.
Tonight Riccardo Frizza's conducting was impressive - and, along with the soprano, his leadership was the evening's most memorable element. The other cast members were a mixed lot. NORMA needs four great voices to make a truly thrilling impression but this did not happen tonight.
A few minor cuts caused no real harm to the overall effect of the opera. Maestro Frizza gave a nicely weighted opening to the evening and later had some exciting ideas to keep the opera fresh: a stimulating acceleration at Pollione's "Qual io mi fossi obblio..." in the Act I trio and a breath-takingly brisk "Guerra!" chorus in Act II. He maintained the forward impetus of the music throughout the opera, was kind to his singers, and gave Sondra the leeway needed to maximize the effects of her ravishing pianissimo high notes throughout the evening. Abetting the overall success of the performance was a mercifully 'short" (by Gelb standards) intermission: it lasted 30 minutes.
James Morris, now 66 years old, showed a voice weathered by his unstintingly generous vocalism in the great roles of Wotan, the Dutchman and Hans Sachs over the many years of his estimable career. Tonight his voice showed a steady beat and a diminished sense of richness, yet he was authoritative - and especially moving in the final moments of the opera as Oroveso dealt with the shock of discovering that he had grand-children. Morris kept up his end of the opera, though it might have been a nice opportunity for a younger basso to try this role.
Mezzo-soprano Kate Aldrich came in for a lot of negative comment in her attempt at Adalgisa, a role too grand for her instrument in a big house like The Met. Aldrich had all the notes, and moved the voice well; and she harmonized nicely with Sondra. But the tone was rather tremulous and the voice lacked sheer amplitude and lustre. Despite the fact that the great Adalgisas of recent memory - Simionato, Horne, Cossotto, Verrett, Troyanos, Zajick - have all been mezzos, it's really a soprano role. I wonder how someone like Susanna Phillips - our recent fine Fiordiligi - might fare in this music.
Aleksandrs Antonenko was a strong-toned though not refined Pollione. This role has been sung by such powerhouse tenors as del Monaco and Corelli, but despite the excitement they generated, I have often thought voices like Bergonzi's or John Alexander's more appealing in the music of Pollione. Antonenko powered thru, and in the great duet "In mia man alfin tu sei" and all of the opera's final scene he made a positive vocal impression.
Sondra Radvanovsky, sometimes described as having a built-in microphone in her throat, filled the big house with vibrant sound from note one. Her timbre, not to all tastes, is so utterly personal - more so than any other voice today. Tonight she blessedly had her tendency to stray from pitch well under control. Intoning the opening utterances of the high priestess, Sondra pricked up our ears right from the start, and her delicate and sustained pianissimo on "...il sacro vischio io mieto!" sent chills up my spine: the first of many such frissons during the diva's traversal of Norma's demanding music.
"Casta diva" was everything it should be, with lovely turns of phrase and complete comfort as the voice moved upward and floated over the choral interjections. A long applause after this sublime cavatina was thoroughly deserved, and allowed the diva to re-charge for the upcoming cabaletta. Big voices tend to be undone by the high-speed coloratura of "Ah, bello a me ritorna" but Sondra's success rate was quite high; only a couple of indistinct passages cropped up, and she tugged at the heartstrings with "...ah! riedi ancora qual eri allora...", beautifully coloured by Norma's sense that she's losing Pollione.
And Norma is right, of course: the betrayal comes all too soon. In the first duet with Adalgisa, Sondra continued to spin out her magical sustained upper notes. Then, grasping the situation, she turns on Pollione and lashed out with fiery vocalism. Surprisingly, Sondra did not take the high-D at the conclusion of the first act tonight, a note with which she reportedly electrfied the audience at the prima.
The great scene in which Norma ponders the murder of her children was superbly dramatized by the soprano's singing, and she and Ms. Aldrich reeled off their cascades of coloratura in "Mira or Norma" to fine effect.
The entire final scene of the opera was a great vehicle for the Radvanovsky voice, hopeful at first that she might win Pollione back and then cutting loose wth tremendous cries of "...sangue Roman!" (up to high-C) and "...Guerra!...Strage!...Sterminio!" upon learning he has deserted her. The big duet where Norma confronts Pollione - "In mia man alfin tu sei..." - was splendidly sung and Sondra tossed off the big bursts of coloratura at "I Romani a cento accento..." with fiery command. Radiant high pianisssimi marked Sondra's vocal line in the gorgeous ensemble "Qual cor tradisti..." and she took a sensationally sustained, tapered G-natural at the end of this piece.
And then, for all the vocal generosity that had come before, the soprano found the great reserves of both tone and emotion for the deeply moving scene where she pleads with her father to care for her children. Here Sondra took the level beyond music and words and struck directly at the heart with her soul-stirring and marvelously coloured vocalism. Mssrs. Antonenko and Morris were at their most convincing here also, creating a true sense of tragedy to end the opera. As Sondra Radvanovsky came forward for a bow at the end, the House exploded with an ovation reminiscent of those awarded the great divas of the past. It was thoroughly deserved.
Metropolitan Opera
October 7, 2013
NORMA
Vincenzo Bellini
Norma...................Sondra Radvanovsky
Pollione................Aleksandrs Antonenko
Adalgisa................Kate Aldrich
Oroveso.................James Morris
Flavio..................Eduardo Valdes
Clotilde................Siân Davies
Conductor...............Riccardo Frizza