TheLittleSongbird
La Sonnambula is one of Bellini's best operas. The story is on the somewhat flimsy side, which is where much of the dislike I've seen for the opera come from, but the music is some of Bellini's most beautiful and I can't get enough of it. When it comes to the four productions available I've seen, my vote for best is the Anna Moffo version, ideal from a musical, vocal and setting standpoint, though with issues of sound, lip sync and picture quality that eluded a lot of RAI films in the 50s. The Natalie Dessay/Juan Diego Florez production gets a lot of panning and I can definitely see why, I personally liked the production mainly because the singing was so good.Faring least is the Eva Mei Florence performance, though I can sense a lot of disagreement is going to brew up on seeing this opinion. Mei is wonderful and it is good musically once you get past an unsteady Rodolfo and plodding conducting, but as a whole in terms of ideas and staging it just didn't come together. Of the four, it is this that gets my vote of being the most accessible. That is not to say it isn't without flaws, the sleepwalking scene is rather stylised, some of the sound is a tad too compressed in places and the chorus occasionally give the sense that they were being rushed. These are matters of preferences and don't harm the production too much as an overall whole. But there is something that does harm it and that is the Elvino of Antonio Siragusa, who apart from some nice soft singing sounds as though he is singing through his nose(which I find creates a very unpleasant sound) and he is rather uninvolved as an actor as well.There is a lot that is great about this La Sonnambula though. The costumes are bright and colourful, and of the four productions it is this one that has the nicest-looking sets. The stage direction is charming and always entertaining to watch without falling into gimmicks or awkwardness like the Florence production did. The orchestral playing is lush and stylish, and while there is a sense of them being rushed the chorus are animated and sing with a strong sound. Maurizio Benini wisely pays a lot of attention to his singers, but doesn't divert it completely on them. He still has room to accommodate the drama, shape the musicality and lines and guide orchestral and textural balances, and he does do a highly commendable job on that front.Simone Alaimo is excellent as Rodolfo. I prefer his 1996 Dulcamara and 2007 Don Pasquale, but there are definitely signs of great comic timing, a sense of dignity and a generously-produced and strongly-characterised voice. Sandra Pastrana's Lisa equally so, she brings out the scheming side of the role just right and I liked how warmly restrained her voice was. Her performance greatly benefits as well from not having much of her music cut and from being randomly placed in the action, big mistakes on the Florence production's part. The high point of this La Sonnambula is Eglise Gutierrez's truly lovely Amina. Her voice is dark and dusky yet with the correct high notes that aren't less appealing, while her stage presence is warm and radiant compleye with an already charming appearance.Overall, a fine production, perhaps not the best of the four available productions of La Sonnambula but I think it is definitely the most accessible. 9/10 Bethany Cox
