This is Bellini’s Sleepwalker as we’ve never heard her before. Forget La Divina (Callas), La Stupenda (Sutherland) and La Dessay: Cecilia Bartoli, during her researches on one of the composer’s favourite divas, Maria Malibran, has discovered that, at period pitch, and with a few transpositions, the “soprano” role of Amina can be comfortably managed by her still juicy mezzo, and she offers a reading of the part that is warm, feminine and genuinely touching, while singing the socks off the dizzyingly virtuosic Ah, non giunge. Certainly, some of her interpretative decisions, not to say mannerisms, will be controversial and disputed — Bartoli sings the Bellinian cantilena with a dreamy, trance-like timbre that perhaps suits this particular heroine more than any other and, unlike many bel canto specialists, she gives full value to the text, especially the recitatives. To have an Elvino of equal vocal allure and Italianate ardour in Florez is luxury indeed: their voices are a near-ideal match and it’s astonishing that they haven’t been paired on disc before. The orchestral accompaniment La Scintilla (they are members of the Zurich Opera playing period instruments) sounds new-minted — wonderfully bracing and transparent. Even if you know La Sonnambula well, this fascinating version is full of surprises, and it’s good to know that complete opera recordings with star casts are back on the big companies’ agendas. A must-hear for Bellini buffs.

Decca 4781084

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