If we had been told that one day we would start an article on
La Somnambule
by Bellini by talking about… the orchestra!
Not that it's an obsession.
It is just that it has too often been written here that the orchestra was the poor relation of the romantic Italian belcanto, dedicated to the sole pleasure of singing, not to rejoice in hearing the instruments at such a feast in the show which marks the return of lyrical art at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
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We owe it to the Covid arrangement, which is definitely not all bad: in order to respect the distances, the pit has been completely open and the musicians are at the level of the floor, resulting in a more airy, less crowded sound.
We also owe it to the exemplary performance of the Orchester de chambre de Paris, whose sound quality ennobles this music, and to the tactful direction of Riccardo Frizza.
The Italian conductor has the right breathing and the poetic elegance of a music that can quickly fall into banality.
This breathing
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