Vincenzo Bellini - Il pirata - "Lo sognai ferito, e sangue" (Montserrat Caballe)

I have to admit to having mixed feelings towards Bellini. On one hand, his "La sonnambula" is a wonderful pastoral work which is beautifully written throughout, as well as a number of selected scenes from other operas (such as Giulietta's moving romanza "Oh! quante volte" or Fernando's enchanting "At tanto duol"). But, for the most part, his operas are not really as rewarding for me as those of the composers sighted above. "Il pirata" with it's excessively romantic story and flashes of brilliance over some strikingly routine music is a prime example. Imogene's cavatina, despite a rather interesting structure of two contrasting ariosos as the heroine accounts her dreams and fears (first - an image of her lover in blood; then - her husband) to a bewildered chorus and then a long, lyrical cabaletta, perhaps, represents both Bellini at his best and at his most uninspired: while there are many individual moments of great beauty in the scene (certainly the swift yet caring coda is extremly appealing), there is a distinct lack of concetrated composition (unlike in the above-mentioned scenes which actually thrive on being prolonged expressions of a single emotion) which can be explained by the needs of the drama, though we still are faced with an aria of disconcerting unevenness. I do not desire to offend anyone's love for the composer (indeed, one would not want to go without the above-mentioned pieces or a number of rich works), I simply wish to state my own mixed feelings when listening to Bellini's music.

Coloraturafan's compilation featured Caballe as one of the five singers. While she was definitely wonderful there, I strongly fell that it is in the complete recording of the work where she is truly brilliant. Actually, every minute of that recording where Caballe is present is wonderful.

Hope you'll enjoy :)!