La Sonnambula

For the first time at the Paris Opera Natalie Dessay sings one of the most beautiful roles of Italian romanticism She embodies the modest and charming Amina this sleepwalker who escaping from her bedroom becomes another person as she wanders through the night This opera by Bellini is a score seemingly written in a daydream where melody is apparently suspended in time and the heroines very soul rises to the surface and where instruments take on transparent tones At the same time Bellini portrays the cruelest of worlds our own where it is more than difficult for fragility and gentleness to shine past the darker rashness and unfriendliness of the characters