Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (Italian: [vinˈtʃɛntso salvaˈtoːre karˈmɛːlo franˈtʃesko belˈliːni]). (3 November 1801, Catania, Sicily – 23 September 1835, Paris) was an Italian opera composer, who was known for his long-flowing melodic lines for which he was named "the Swan of Catania". Many years later, in 1898, Giuseppe Verdi "praised the broad curves of Bellini's melody: 'there are extremely long melodies as no-one else had ever made before. I Puritani (1834-35) Librettist Carlo Pepoli (1796–1881) after Têtes rondes et Cavaliers by François Ancelot (1794–1854) and Xavier Boniface Saintine (1798–1865) 1. Act One: All'erta! All'erta! L'alba Appari - Bruno, Coro 2. Act One: O Di Cromwell Guerrieri - Bruno (8:58) 3. Act One: Or Dove Fuggo Mai? - Riccardo (15:24) 4. Act One: Ah! Per Sempre Io Ti Perdei! - Riccardo (18:50) 5. Act One: O Amato Zio, O Mio Secondo Padre! - Elvira (24:31) 6. Act One: Sai Com'arde In Petto Mio! - Elvira (27:05) 7. Act One: Ad Arturo Onore - Coro (38:24) 8. Act One: A Te, Ocara - Arturo (41:29) 9. Act One: Il Rito Augusto Si Compia Senza Me - Valton (47:14) 10. Act One: Son Vergin Vezzosa - Elvira (53:32) 11. Act One: Ferma! Invan, Invan Rapir Pretendi - Riccardo (58:06) Riccardo Muti conducting the Rome RAI Symphony Orchestra and Chorus Cast:, Bonaldo Giaiotti Giovanni Antonini Mino Venturini Mirella Fiorentini Mirella Freni Sesto Bruscantini Luciano Pavarotti Review by L. Mitnick on Amazon.com This is actually not a live performance. It was a 1969 recording made by the Italian Radio Network in Rome, which is why there is no audience applause and really excellent sound (which might even be stereo!). Riccardo Muti is much less rigid here than he was to be on his later 1979 EMI studio recording with Montserrat Caballe and Alfredo Kraus, which allows the singers considerably more latitude than was the case a decade later. The singers here, of course, are top drawer. Mirella Freni sounds young, fresh, and is a beautifully lyrical Elvira. She still had at this time a few optional notes above the top C, which, admittedly, she uses sparingly, though effectively. She does not have the coloratura technique of Joan Sutherland, who, with all due respect, put in all sorts of extra coloratura interpolations and added cadenzas that were only hers to command. Nonetheless, Freni achieves a true vocal pathos and vulnerability that completely eludes Sutherland. At all points, the singing is very, very beautiful. Luciano Pavarotti is superlative here, even better, I think, than he was to be four years later, when he commercially recorded the opera with Joan Sutherland. At the time of this performance, Pavarotti was little known outside of Italy, and his voice was an instrument of sublime beauty. This is most emphatically NOT the Pavarotti who much later became a grossly overweight operatic media Bozo. If nothing else, this recording shows what a great and serious artist he would have become had his success not gone to his head (as well as the rest of his body). The sheer beauty of his singing here is something to be experienced instead of discussed. Personally, I find this "Puritani" to be the most listener-friendly around, and it's the version I return to most often

• published: 22 Sep 2014
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