Concert performance of Bellini's Norma, featuring the coloratura showpiece
'Casta Diva'. We were sitting in the gallery, sideways on to the stage, but could hear the singers very clearly despite Bellini's typically subtle brass! Sadly, the surtitles were Obscured By Harp, the lack of props and costumes made it harder to work out who was who, and neither of my companions were familiar with what I will loosely term the Plot.
It's the SENSATIONAL TALE of a Druid priestess (that's the bit about mistletoe), a Roman proconsul, and a young temple virgin (possibly no longer qualified) who makes up the third point of the eternal triangle. Cue misunderstandings, mistaken identity and DOOM. I was reminded of the term 'idiot plot':
plot which functions only because all the characters involved are idiots. They behave in a way that suits the author's convenience, rather than through any rational motivation of their own. (Attr. James Blish) (source.) If Norma had only asked who Adalgisa's sekrit lover was ..! If Pollione had only exercised a modicum of common sense when sneaking around the temple ...!
Ah well.
It is all rather overwrought ("Eternal love begins in death": NO IT DOESN'T) and I don't think Bellini is as good as Donizetti at matching music to sentiment: there were some delightfully cheery tunes to accompany Norma's anguish. But there are a couple of splendid soprano duets (the first of which set off some unpleasant harmonics from where I was sitting, but their voices were much less dissonant when Norma and Adalgisa are in sympathy) and a grand martial chorus which can be summed up as "Down with the Romans!"
The sopranos -- Yvonne Howard as Norma, Alwyn Mellor as Adalgisa -- were fabulous; Mellor in particular has a hall-filling voice. I couldn't hear Justin Lavender (Pollione) quite so well, but that may have been because he was nearest to our seats. Supporting cast also very good, especially Clotilde.
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