Cecilia Bartoli Throws Herself Into Role
Listen exclusively to a new period-instrument recording of Bellini’s tragic opera that, with Cecilia Bartoli as the priestess, reveals the heroine as a woman of flesh and blood. The Guardian writes: ‘Bartoli’s “Norma” evokes the style and artistry of the legendary soprano Giuditta Pasta, the opera’s original heroine, and sees the Italian superstar continuing her mission to reveal lost details of expression and emotional variety in music that have been covered by the dark varnish of later performance traditions. Norma, often portrayed as a superhuman priestess, emerges in Bartoli’s performance as a woman of flesh and blood, torn between duty and love.’
