Great voices and a concert setting helps make sense of plot.

Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre

August 23, 2014

In his aptly titled book Opera, musicologist and Cambridge professor Edward J. Dent wrote “…noise and vulgarity were foreign to [Bellini’s] temperament, and his music shows a delicacy and refinement that were indeed rare in the Italian theatre of his time”. Vincezo Bellini’s Norma, first performed in 1831 at La Scala, Milan, featuring the legendary soprano Giuditta Pasta, is testament to this delicacy and refinement, requiring a small but talented troupe of singers. On the whole, for this concert performance, Victorian Opera amply delivered. Without sets, costuming, or choreography, Norma was stripped back to its essence: beautiful music, and flowing lines of melody. Rather than a hindrance, we as the audience were afforded the luxury of focusing entirely on the drama of the music, and the expression of the singers, without distraction.

Spanish soprano Saioa Hernandez made her Australian debut in the title role of Norma. Hernandez’s voice is altogether attractive, with a dark and luscious tone. In Act II Hernandez really demonstrated the power and beauty of her voice and her fine dramatic skills. With pathos...