La Sonnambula (Bellini)

NUOVA ERA #7215/16
Patrizia Ciofi (Amina), Giuseppe Morino (Elvino), Giovanni Furlanetto (Rodolfo), Vitalba Mosca (Teresa), Maria Costanza Nocentini (Lisa); Giuliano Carella (conductor), Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia.
Recorded “live” at Martina Franca, 23-26 July 1994 (XX Festival della Valle d’Itria); released April 1995.
REVIEWS:

"Among Patrizia Ciofi's assets are a careful, caring musicianship, a head voice that works, and the fact that her lovely lyric soprano is governed by an artistic sensibility. In her throat, almost all of those floated entrances Bellini has so graciously designed are delicately radiant. Sometimes her upper-register tone is unsupported, which causes it to turn tremulous, but when she's 'under it', she is exceptionally good. Anyone who can take that rising and falling phrase (up to the B and down) on 'risuona' as beautifully as Ciofi does near the beginning of Act 2 merits recognition. Her floated top voice is about as easy as Devia's and a tad more ethereal, though no one can really match the older soprano for just plain security. Ciofi's sweet-toned way with the recitativi in both sleepwalking scenes, those outwardly 'spoken' manifestations of Amina's unconscious, capture Bellini's tone exactly: this is innocence, not burgeoning tragedy." Opera Quarterly Summer 2001

Reviews also appeared in the following publications:
Orpheus - Januar 1996 S.55; Juni 1996 S.63
Opéra International - mai 1996 No.202 p.54
Diapason - No.420 novembre 1995 p.100
L'Avant Scène Opéra - No.169 p.116
American Record Guide - May/June 1996 Vol.59 No.3 p.82
Répertoire - No.84 octobre 1995 p.28
L'opera (Milano) - Anno X - N.95 Marzo 1996 p.80
Musica (Milano) - No.95 Anno 20 dicembre 1995-gennaio 1996 p.87