Maria Callas: Live in Milan 1956 and Athens 1957 [Original recording remastered]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Callas fans prefer her "live" recordings to studio outings for their extra charge of intensity, whether the singer's on the operatic stage or in concert, as she is on this disc, which is part of a series of new reissues from EMI. The first four items derive from a 1956 Radio Italiana program; the final six from her first concert in Greece after an absence of 12 years. Of course, Callas fans will want every scrap of salvaged recorded material they can find, but this will hold interest for anyone interested in the Callas phenomenon and great singing. Not that she's in prime voice here, but she never fails to thrill and enlighten. Her command of line is extraordinary, amply demonstrated by the Milan excerpt from Bellini's Puritani. And while she recorded every selection here on other occasions, such is her artistry that duplication is not a problem. So, even if you have her "Bel raggio" from Rossini's Semiramide, you'll want to hear this more austere version. And the Athens "Liebestod," from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, sung in Italian, is more fiery than in her early Cetra recording. Her late studio recording of the mad scene from Thomas's Hamlet was in French; in Milan, with Callas singing in Italian, it has even more color and tension. The sound is acceptable; the artistry, flaws and all, exceptional. --Dan Davis

Tracks:

Gaspare Spontini: La vestale: Tu che invoco
Vincenzo Bellini: I puritani: La dama d'Arturo... Ah, vieni al tiempo
Gioacchino Rossini: Semiramide: Bel raggio lusinghier
Ambroise Thomas: Hamlet: Ai vostri giochi... Ed ora voi
Giuseppe Verdi: Il travatore: Vanne... D'amor sull'ali rosee
Giuseppe Verdi: La forza del destino: Pace, pace, mio Dio!
Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde: Dolce e calmo
Gaetano Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor: Regnava nei silenzio...Quando rapito in estasi
Ambroise Thomas: Hamlet: Ai vostri giochi... Ed ora a voi
Ambroise Thomas: Encore: Ed ora a voi

Amazon.com

Callas fans prefer her "live" recordings to studio outings for their extra charge of intensity, whether the singer's on the operatic stage or in concert, as she is on this disc, which is part of a series of new reissues from EMI. The first four items derive from a 1956 Radio Italiana program; the final six from her first concert in Greece after an absence of 12 years. Of course, Callas fans will want every scrap of salvaged recorded material they can find, but this will hold interest for anyone interested in the Callas phenomenon and great singing. Not that she's in prime voice here, but she never fails to thrill and enlighten. Her command of line is extraordinary, amply demonstrated by the Milan excerpt from Bellini's Puritani. And while she recorded every selection here on other occasions, such is her artistry that duplication is not a problem. So, even if you have her "Bel raggio" from Rossini's Semiramide, you'll want to hear this more austere version. And the Athens "Liebestod," from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, sung in Italian, is more fiery than in her early Cetra recording. Her late studio recording of the mad scene from Thomas's Hamlet was in French; in Milan, with Callas singing in Italian, it has even more color and tension. The sound is acceptable; the artistry, flaws and all, exceptional. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews:

To complete a discogrphy.......2007-01-10

There is no doubt that opera will one day look at "before" and "after" Maria Callas. She did not ever have anyhing but a big unruly voice, but it changed the world for the good.

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