This recording of La Sonnambula is attractive (and significant) for a number of reasons. It's the first to use the critical edition of the score by Alessandro Roccatagliati and Luca Zoppelli, to which some music has been restored and which has corrected the orchestration and restored the original keys of various numbers for which transposition has become routine. The edition was unveiled at Santa Fe, in a production featuring soprano Natalie Dessay and conductor Evelino Pidò, both of whom perform here, and they are two of ...
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This recording of La Sonnambula is attractive (and significant) for a number of reasons. It's the first to use the critical edition of the score by Alessandro Roccatagliati and Luca Zoppelli, to which some music has been restored and which has corrected the orchestration and restored the original keys of various numbers for which transposition has become routine. The edition was unveiled at Santa Fe, in a production featuring soprano Natalie Dessay and conductor Evelino Pidò, both of whom perform here, and they are two of the other main reasons for the success of this CD. Pidò leads the Orchestra and Choirs of l'Opéra de Lyon in an exceptionally supple and rhythmically fluid performance. His reading of Bellini's accompaniments is never perfunctory, but attuned to the drama and to driving the action on-stage. The orchestra and chorus both perform with exquisite intonation and precision. Natalie Dessay seems born to sing Amina, both musically and dramatically. The directness and the gossamer delicacy of...
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