Ah! partiamo i miei tormenti

Live 2002 Paris Chatelet

Bellini Il Pirata
"Ah! partiamo, i miei tormenti"

Imogene: Renée Fleming
Orchestre Philharmonique
Conductor: Evelino Pidò

Another choice cut from Fleming's astonishing 2002 role debut as Imogene in Il Pirata. (several other sections available on this channel, of this, her most controversial role). The Act 1 Finale is another of Bellini's brilliant inventions - such thrillingly energetic orchestral music, coupled with fantastically heroic vocal writing. The way it builds sonically is learned from Rossini of course, but that amazing Bellinian line which cuts through the orchestral texture is felt just as keenly as in the famous melancholic cantilenas and provides an immense technical challenge to the soprano. Here Fleming supports the line superbly as it surges recklessly through all three registers, adding further difficulty by including dynamic variation and other interpretive nuance to her thrusting vocal tone.

This version is preferable to me to the Met version of the following year for several reasons:
1) it retains Bellini's repeat and so the structural integrity of this ingenious finale is maintained. Fleming is even more impressive in supporting the line on the second repeat at 1:23
2) the orchestral playing and choir are much more incisive and stronger here rhythmically, well managed under the baton of Evelino Pidò
3) Fleming manages the cadenza (2:30 and 2:50) much better which, while again not perfect, doesn't fly out of control as it did in New York when she was recovering from illness.

A final note which may be contentious for some. The opening "Ah" makes much more sense to me dramatically than Callas' famous 1959 version. Callas diminuendos on the note then comes in forcefully with the ensemble proper, but it means the drama and tension doesn't emerge logically out of the music and sentiment and so feels odd. It's the only dramatic/musical misfire I have ever heard from Callas, and as I suspect that it may have been someone else that suggested this to her. Fleming crescendos and launches powerfully into the ensemble, which seems to grow out of this cry of pain - much more logical dramatically and musically, and more moving too.

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