
I have six recordings of
La Traviata, four of them featuring Callas as Violetta, who, as far as I'm concerned, is
hors concours. She sang the role more than any other role apart from Norma, and it was continually developing in her psyche. It is a great pity that the only studio recording she made was in 1953 for Cetra, with inferior support, and before she had truly conquered its depths.
My favourite recording is the one from Covent Garden in 1958, but this recording of the opening night of the famous La Scala Visconti production, with Giulini at the helm, was an important stage in her conquering of the role, and there is no doubting she was in better voice in 1955 than in 1958. The production could be said to have changed the course of operatic history, and, though it would no doubt seem pretty tame these days, many elements were revolutionary and controversial, the acting having a naturalness rarely seen before; for instance, Callas sang
Ah fors'e lui, sitting by the fire, undoing her hair, and then kicked off her shoes as she started
Sempre libera. Giulini is a palpable presence, leaving the audience little chance to applaud between numbers and disrupt the flow of the performance, not that he can stop them after
Amami, Alfredo, when the short orchestral postlude is completely drowned out by a spontaneous and riotous bout of applause, the audience no longer able to hold back after the white hot intensity unleashed by Callas. Di Stefano is an ardent Alfredo, but Bastianini, fine voice though he has, is disappointingly four square and monochrome as Germont. It is remarkable that Callas does so much in the great Act II duet with so little coming back from her partner.
A superb memento of a defining moment in Callas's career. This Ars Vocalis transfer is a good deal better than anything I've ever headr before too.