Bellini: Norma Covent Garden 1967 Sutherland Horne Tagliavini Rouleau Bonynge BETTER SOUND

*Thank you to Martin for originally sharing this recording back in June!*
Date of this performance is December 8th 1967. I find this recording to be an interesting blend between Bonynge's early 1963 Norma tempo and his later 1970s Norma tempo. Sutherland is in amazing voice here. This is the only recording of this run (that I know of) where Sutherland does the high E flat in the Gia Mi Pasco duet in Act 2. Possibly the last time she did it. Horne's Adalgisa is superb as always. The newer tempos suit her well. Tagliavini is a great tenor for Pollione. I've repitched this recording to the best of my ability, and of course improved the sound quality. The voices and orchestra are clearer now and have more depth to them. This was a broadcast recording, now you could say its sound quality is more broadcast like than before.
Enjoy!
Cast:
Conductor: Richard Bonynge
Norma: Joan Sutherland
Adalgisa: Marilyn Horne
Pollione: Franco Tagliavini
Oroveso: Joseph Rouleau
Clotilde: Elizabeth Bainbrid
Flavio: John Lanigan
Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden

[@davidhansel897]

Thank you for posting this! Sinfonia: 0:00 Act 1, s.1: 06:21 "Meco all'altare di Venere": 14:54 "Casta diva": 28:06 "Sgombra le sacre selva": 39:42 Act 1, s.2: 55:30 " O, di quel sei tu vittima": 1:13:49 Act 2, s.1: 1:22:39 "Mira, o Norma": 1:38:25 Act 2, s.2: 1:46:20 Act 2, s.3: 1:54:05 "In mia man": 2:06:49 "Deh! Non vollerli vittime": 2:23:56

[@ahogbin2644]

A really glorious vocal performance of the opera. Sutherland astounding. I can’t imagine it being better sung. I heard her sing the first scene in a very late concert in1989 and it still cast its magic. In F by then. Thanks so much.

[@jondavwal13]

She is in science fiction voice here. I have listened to this a few times now and I cannot believe Sutherland's singing and I've heard her a LOT. It's absolutely perfect, and for Norma that is saying something. I feel like I'm listening to an undiscovered instrument being played by a magical virtuoso. It doesn't really sound like singing at all. And I'm not being critical when I say that.

[@cadoh8143]

Thank you so much. Sutherland is, in Bel canto, my favorite. 👏👏👏

[@antoniogomes-wq6kf]

Wow Amazing Singing and the sound is super! Thank you for sharing, regards from Portugal.

[@michaelparker719]

Sutherland and Horne in excelsis. Vocally just about the best Norma I have ever heard.

[@jondavwal13]

If you are an opera lover no matter who your favorite is, this singing has to bring tears to your eyes. Not that anybody could sing like Sutherland (or Horne) ever but it seems nobody has any interest in trying to sing well any longer. Crying as I listen to this.

[@michaelparker719]

Opera is no longer about singing but rather silly theatrics. People just don’t get that the emotion comes through the sound of the voice and how the vocal line (motivated by the text) is inflected. Running about the stage in absurd updates productions generates only superficial emotions. Also learning to sing on this level takes time, patience, and application. There is no demands for singing such as represented here anymore and so it is slowly dying. Perhaps in some future age it will be reborn. I hope so. In the meantime we have these recordings to remind us of past glories.

[@markosgeorgakakis1596]

What a treasure, thank you!

[@sutherland9]

What I find interesting is that Miss Sutherland first sang Norma in Vancouver, Canada in 1963. She did not sing the role again in public until the 1967 performances in London. The 4-year gap was probably her choice to allow more time for growth as an artist before singing this mammoth role in the big cities like London and New York. I heard Miss Sutherland sing live on 5 occasions and I miss her a great deal.

[@vanmusician]

I was at opening night of the 1963 Vancouver Norma. A later performance in the run of 5 is now available on commercial cd.

[@wotan10950]

I saw her perhaps a dozen times, at the Met, and in Brooklyn and Buffalo, of all places! But never as Norma, unfortunately. I met her after a Don Giovanni performance. She was rather formal, but Bonynge was very friendly and talkative. I told her that I had seen her at Kleinhans Hall in Buffalo, the day before the colossal blizzard of 1977. She pondered that for a moment, and said, "Well, Dearie, I suppose I got my rear end out of there just in time!"

[@richardholmesmusic2128]

You’re quite correct. After Vancouver, Sutherland was scheduled to open the Met’s 1964-65 season in a new production ofNorma. She awithdrew, feeling she needed a few more years of Norma before bringing it it to the Met. A new production of Lucia was substituted, to Mr. Bing’s annoyance. This is all detailed in Russell Braddon’s biography of Sutherland.

[@sutherland9]

@@richardholmesmusic2128 What is also interesting is that shortly after the Vancouver performances Miss Sutherland did go ahead with a studio recording of this opera, leaving for posterity her understanding of the role after those few Canadian performances. Perhaps Decca insisted on it and Miss Sutherland felt obligated

[@AkaiGX]

@sutherland9 Personally, I wish the first Norma studio recording should've been recorded around 1970-1972. Around when the Met 1970 Normas happened is when Bonynge's tempo "solidified" for Norma imo. Sutherland would have also have been in a more matured voice.

[@OperaMyWorld]

Thank you!!! ❤

[@vanmusician]

She sings Casta Diva in the original key of G

[@Shahrdad]

The original written key is G, but the lower key of F is what Bellini used for Pasta in the original performances of the opera. G is definitely more silvery, but F sounds more haunting and mysterious. And at least to my ears, even with someone with such an amazing high register as Sutherland , the aria in G just sounds a bit too screamy, which could be why Bellini transposed it down himself.

[@jondavwal13]

@@Shahrdad He transposed it down because Pasta asked him to. She could not sing it in G and it was written for her.

[@Shahrdad]

@@jondavwal13 that was a rather common practice at that time where composers adjusted the keys to suit their favorite singers.

[@jondavwal13]

@@Shahrdad Yes, but not because it sounded "screamy". LOL.

[@Shahrdad]

@@jondavwal13 we don’t know what oh sounded in G when sung by Pasta, do we?

[@GLBinNP]

Wow , thanks. some of Horne's slow vibrato is like nothing on earth 😯💕

[@lastupendajoansutherland]

Fantastic!!

[@alfvillanueva]

Thanks as always ! Your words in the description say it all ! Bless you !!!!

[@nelifitkova8568]

Bezaubernd wie immer!

[@user-me8kr6mv5l]

Magic voice* Grade personality* utube smile by john bavas

[@walteranibal8425]

The ONLY one Norma: Joan Sutherland

[@petergraham8681]

Some of the tempi are faster than I am familiar with. CASTA DIVA, for example, seems a bit rushed but Sutherland manages well anyway. The first time I have heard it in G instead of F which most sopranos, Ponselle, Callas, & Milanov, to name just a few, prefer.

[@vanmusician]

The aria was composed in G but the first Norma, Pasta, asked for it to be transposed down to F My vocal score, a reprint of a 19th Cent edition, has it in G.