Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, 18/07/2022

Bellini : Norma

Chœur Pygmalion

Ensemble Resonanz

Riccardo Minasi

The theatre was packed to the rafters for this concert performance of Norma, for it was both a first appearance at the festival, and a first appearance in the title role for Karine Deshayes.  Deshayes has previously sung Adalgisa, as she is normally designated as a mezzo, but as with much of the belcanto repertory, and earlier, the vocal types between the women are not so clear-cut, what matters is that they should be differentiated, and as long as all the notes are present in the voice, 'mezzo' and 'soprano' tend to become interchangeable.  The only real reason that Adalgisa has traditionally been assigned to mezzo-sopranos is probably that in all the numbers where she sings with Norma, she has the lower-lying vocal line.  

All the notes, Deshayes certainly has, delivered with all the creamy lustre of her warm timbre.  However, she's still vocally a little tentative in the part.  Her efforts to produce the spun-out fil di voce sounds resulted in too-tight control which caused the sound to break, a sort of fleeting drop-out, rather than the smooth, silken lines that are one of the trademarks of this repertory.  Dramatically, however, she brought dignity and pathos to the role, and could maybe have done with a little more venom at the relevant moments, but that's something that could be unlocked by an actual production, rather than simply in concert, just as the vocal breaks will probably be smoothed out with more experience of the part.

She was provided with a sumptuous setting for her role premiere, starting with the Pollione of Michael Spyres.  I found him a little distant dramatically - again, perhaps an effect of the concert performance - but vocally resplendent, in a role in which I have heard more bad tenors than good.  No fear of that with Spyres, the timbre was clear and effortless, the ornamentation easy, the manner forthright and fairly engaging.  Pollione can (and frequently does) come across as something of a bully, but Spyres avoided that pitfall.  

The revelation of the plateau, though, was the Adalgisa of Egyptian soprano Amina Edris, a brighter, sharper timbre than Deshayes for contrast, expressively deployed, and aided by outstanding Italian diction.  Edris is at the start of her career, she is very clearly one to be watched.  Krzysztof Bączyk was an excellent, imposing Oroveso, while two more young singers made good impressions as Flavio (Julien Henric) and Clotilde (Marianne Croux).

Riccardo Minasi and the Ensemble Residenz set the tone from the outset, with a fast-paced, exciting overture, and an energy that never flagged from start to finish.  Norma is quite a long opera, and can be made to seem longer if the conductor does not maintain the momentum, but with Minasi, there was not a dead moment, and not an instant where one's attention could wander.  Without rushing, his tempi kept up the pace, but he also knew exactly when to ease up, and how to use dramatic timing.  The silence after Norma's "Son io", her admission of guilt, was fantastically expressive of the shock of the onlookers.  This was as fine a performance of Norma as I've seen or heard in recent years, and the lack of staging was no lack at all.

[Next : 19th July]