Search - Vincenzo Bellini, Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi :: Maria Perdini sings Bellini's Norma [Excerpts]

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Impostazione | New York City Area | 08/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an outstanding Norma and no doubt the superb and dramatic conducting Molinari-Prandelli takes much credit for the intensity of this performance. Maria PeDRini takes the credit too for her large, warm and ductile voice. She is a little short on legato and imagination but what fantastic high notes and the voice is on a column that is perfect in proportion, no triangles, hour glasses, diamonds, or inverted triangles here. The production is absolutely even from top to bottom. She is from the Caniglia/Cigna school of singing and style. They may have more drama and authentic feeling and hence they are more famous, but Pedrini's voice is unique in its fullness throughout the scale. In this regard she is unmatched, even by Caterina Mancini, who obviously followed Pedrini's lead.



Penno and Stignani sing as if they have to go home right away for dinner is on the table. Yet they both have monumental voices. Like Pedrini, they are modest people endowed by nature with immense vocal instruments. In fact, in terms of volume, even del Monaco could not match Penno at his highest amplitude (so I have heard)---and who could challenge Stignani?



This is Norma with THE FINEST VOICES in the world, but without that internal flame of Callas, that meltingly beautiful legato and mezza voce of Milanov (listen to her Norma, that voice is pure glory), the impetuosity of Cigna, the madness of Mancini, the strong vulnerability of Cerquetti, the intense masculinity of del Monaco or the singular perfection of Simionato, (there are others too) Norma loses it's unique ability to sear the soul.



As for the Arias, Pedrini's singing of the Tower Aria from Trovatore is sheer glory and her accents in "La mamma morta" make elevate this performace to legend.



Buy it!!!!







"