The Orchard Bellini: Norma

An unmissable studio recording starring Marina Rebeka, Karine Deshayes, Luciano Ganci, Marko Mimica, Anta Jankovska, and Gustavo De Gennaro, with the Orquesta y Coro del Teatro Real, Madrid, under the baton of John Fiore. New critical edition by Roger Parker for Casa Ricordi includes a musicological essay and the full libretto in Italian and English. In June 2025, Marina Rebeka will perform NORMA at Teatro Alla Scala, Milano, where the opera has not been performed since 1977, with Montserrat Caballe in the title role. Notes on the new edition: "In the autograph, Norma's famous preghiera is written in G major, a key that would make extreme demands on most sopranos who sing the role. In this recording Marina Rebeka sings the aria in G major. The final part of the Act One finale clearly underwent significant change, probably after the first performance; the first Ricordi vocal score and various manuscript sources have a different version of the last part of the number, with an altered disposition of the vocal parts, some variations in the melodic material and no choral intervention. This recording features the version with chorus. [there is also the] alternative ending to the coro 'Guerra, Guerra' in Act Two. Although, again, the version in the autograph is likely to be Bellini's last thought on the matter, the alternative ending, with the return of music from the Sinfonia, opens up a vital new colour in the opera's final number, and this is the version used in the present recording." --Roger Parker 'Norma is only as good as its Norma. And the Latvian soprano Marina Rebeka has already brought the Met audience to its knees or rather to its feet as the Druid priestess. At full volume it's a voice that could cut through sheets of steel the occupying Romans have good reason to be very afraid of her.' BBC Music Magazine (4 stars) Record Review's Record of the Week on 2nd November: 'Marina Rebeka is already a renowned Norma for excellent reasons, as the new recording shows, but not the only reason for investing in this new Norma, because the role of her young fellow priestess and rival in love Adalgisa is another outstanding performance from Karine Deshayes.' 'Marina Rebeka's Norma really deserved to be immortalized in the studio, especially with Karine Deshayes as partner.' Opéra Magazine 'Karine Deshayes's Adalgisa is remarkable. [] Her tone is creamy, nicely contrasting with Rebeka's greater metal, and every word and line is etched with wonderfully expressive subtlety. It's an outstanding performance.' Gramophone