Recorded live in 1977 at the Martina Franca Festival, this set is recommended to fans of Grace Bumbry and/or those who already own six recordings of this opera and think they need a seventh that isn't sung by Callas. Advertised as the "1831 original edition for two sopranos", this is nonsense: who cares? The music is the same, and when you have a Norma with a voice as mezzo-like as Bumbry's (I don't care what she was calling herself in '77, she's always been a mezzo), casting Adalgisa lightly is nice, but again, who cares? There's a recording on Decca with Sutherland and Caballé; if you're looking for two sopranos, why not pick them?

The performance itself is exciting if occasionally too aggressive. Michael Halasz's leadership is not particularly Bellinian, but then again, neither are his singers. Bumbry, a sensational Eboli and Amneris, has just about all of the needed notes for Norma, and plenty of temperament, but there's little vulnerability: the high priestess shows, the woman rarely does. She's best when angry, but overall her sound simply isn't right for the role. While the general size of the voice is appropriate, the texture somehow seems wrong.

At the end of "Vanne, si...", Bumbry foolishly hurls herself up to a top D, and it's an ugly mistake--it confuses tenor Giuseppe Giacomini (otherwise a manly if somewhat boorish Pollione) so thoroughly that he winds up on a note nowhere near where he should be, and the result is cacophony. Lella Cuberli is a light and lovely Adalgisa (and inaudible in the big trio) and Robert Lloyd is a superb, mellifluous Oroveso. Orchestra and chorus, though not first rate, are good. The sound is good enough. As I said, Bumbry-ites will be pleased; Norma-ites may balk.

--Robert Levine