Another day, another “Norma.” Not that that is a hardship: lucky Vienna, has two new productions in which to indulge. And they proved very different beasts. The opera hasn’t been staged at the Staatsoper for almost 50 years so it was long overdue to have an outing there. And Cyril Teste’s production did the job well enough, if not excitingly, and I imagine it will prove a revivable show, which I realize is slightly damning it with faint praise.

A Dull Production But A Wonderful Orchestra

The staging is often visually gorgeous, with characters emerging from the gloom of misty forests to the front of the stage. Unfortunately that is where they often stayed, singing out to us, singing to the conductor, but not so much to each other. Even worse, a scrim was often used – more spooky trees – but it actually proved quite solid, so Pollione’s opening aria meant that when he gazed into the woods he was just staring at his own stark shadow two feet away on the drop, a clumsy and decidedly unmagical effect. But scrim aside, Julien Boizard’s lighting was atmospheric. Teste set the opera in a war-torn country, like Vasily Barkhatov’s production at the Theater an der Wien, a generalized “somewhere in Europe,” though here you feel you are looking towards the Eastern end of the continent. The opening scene is a war camp, and Norma enters to rally the troops. It is a very stylish war camp as everyone matches sartorially, sporting layered shades of grey highlighted with flashes of scarlet. The performance program explains the loving attention given to the shawls worn by the production’s women, including a large version for Norma, and while fascinating to learn more about the creative process I must say that from mid stalls they looked stunning but I got none of the meaning or detail behind designer Marie La Rocca’s detailed work until reading about it afterward. Film was used for several scenes, designed by Mehdi Toutain-Lotez. It was largely effective to watch but the use of live camerawork onstage was distracting and added a meta layer that seemed unnecessarily jarring. And there was much focus on Norma’s children (seemingly known to everyone onstage) which to me seemed redundant. Their function is to provide a moral dilemma for Norma, not for us to engage with them. I don’t really care what happens to the cute kids – they’re there as a plot device, that’s enough, and our emotional focus should remain on their mother’s hideous predicament and tumultuous emotions.

The consistently best aspect of the performance was Michele Mariotti’s conducting. Elegant in the extreme, this was a complete version, repeats intact. Mariotti reminded me of Muti’s approach to Bellini, with no note unloved: if you are going to do it, take it seriously. One example: after Oroveso’s aria in Act two there are 17 bars of simple music before Norma sings “Ei tornera,” strings leading into woodwind, and there was as much attention poured into that small moment as lavished on the complex ensembles. Mariotti tended for slower tempi, though not overly so, and really allowed the score to breathe, with well-judged pauses making great effect. Both the orchestra and chorus were perfect, and the sheen on the strings was particularly magical.

Bel Canto Singing

Federica Lombardi proved a very good Norma. If I had anticipated Asmik Grigorian’s Norma at the Theater an der Wien to be overly heavy (I was wrong), I assumed Lombardi would approach the role with a more Mozartian sensibility, and so it proved. She has the elegance of phrase and a wonderfully liquid line, and her opening scene had a variety of tones and colors as well as Bellinian elegance. Unlike Muti, Mariotti does allow vocal decorations and Lombardi provided some upward runs in the second verse of her cabaletta “Ah ! bello a me ritorno” that I had not heard before. But it was in the final scene of the opera that her voice came into its full glory, quite the most wonderful effect. Lombardi is tall and graceful and her acting is good but the production is quite artificial, so I would like to see her perform it in another setting. She and Teste had developed an effective interpretation of “Casta diva” displaying public spirituality versus the cabaletta’s inner emotions. But moments like banging the gong with a chair, badly mimed, were staged in the wrong way.

Vasilisa Berzhanskaya brought a quiet dignity to Adalgisa, but Teste didn’t really give her much to do except hang around in an unflattering anorak. But her voice is a remarkable instrument. Though performing as a mezzo she has also sung soprano roles including Norma, so the high Cs held no terrors for her at all. And though she sensitively shaded her music, when she did allow the voice full flood the effect was thrilling. Berzhanskaya and Lombardi also blended incredibly well in their duets especially “Mira, o Norma,” with smooth tone blossoming into a quiver – clever casting.

Juan Diego Flórez did his duty as Pollione and I liked his vocal performance very much. Europe has become quite used to a relatively smaller voice in the role, and though Flórez is not overly loud, the instrument has great focus, plus the excellent acoustic of the house suits him well. And he was not above some interesting vocal variants either. His acting was stolid, with his usual tendency to stand leaning forward on one leg, arms held out.

Ildebrando d’Arcangelo was a magnificent Oroveso, with a good glower and boom, whipping the chorus along with him. Anna Bondarenko and Hiroshi Amako made positive contributions as Clotilde and Flavio, despite the former seemingly being dressed as cabin crew for the finale. As a performance, this “Norma” was more interesting than emotionally engaging.

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