Bartoli’s back on the treasure trail with her Norma video

After offering clues taken from ‘webisodes' filmed during the record­ing of Cecilia Bartoli's cd Mission, which eventually led to the name of the composer featured on the disc, Decca are being cunning again by offering ‘exclusive content' to stir up interest in La Ceci's latest project.

Following this link, it is possible to play a little game to reconstruct the cover of Norma, figuring Bartoli as she will presumably be styled for the Salzburg production on 17 May; an Anna Magnani type, as she appeared in Franco Zeffirelli's legendary production of Giovanni Verga's La Lupa in Florence in 1965.

If you'd rather not play the game, after 5 minutes it lets you see the video prize anyway: a peek backstage during the recording of the opera, with Giovanni Antonini conducting (as he did on the Sacrificium and Vivaldi discs). It's just a 1½ minute promo, but it gets the mouth watering anyway. Those of us who caught the concert performances in Dortmund in June 2011 know that this appetizer will be more than equalled by the main course.

And for those in a hurry who don't want to wait 5 minutes, you can see the clip directly on YouTube!

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.