Maria Callas

Started by knight66, May 08, 2007, 06:16:02 AM

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zamyrabyrd

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on August 03, 2017, 06:13:47 AM
I'm listening to the Juilliard Masterclasses at the moment. Fascinating.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL09F93460516754C7

You can hear Willard White on No. 75 (out of 116) in Verdi: "Il lacerato spirito".
I think there is a group of "graduates" from that particular class...
"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one."

― Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: zamyrabyrd on August 03, 2017, 06:59:58 AM
You can hear Willard White on No. 75 (out of 116) in Verdi: "Il lacerato spirito".
I think there is a group of "graduates" from that particular class...

You can also hear Barbara Hendricks (no 21 "Qui la voce", nos 62 & 89 "Io son l'umile ancella")

Willard White is also featured in no 92 "Tu sul labbro")

\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Tsaraslondon

40 years ago today since the death of Maria Callas and it seems her influence is, if anything, more far reaching than ever.

To mark the event Warner is issuing a box set of Live Recordings, many of them in roles she never recorded. There has been much discussion as to where they went for their sources, and whether there are still better versions out there. For my money you can't do better than Divina Records or Ars Vocalis, but I've ordered the set anyway and look forward to its arrival later today.

\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Spineur

#583
Also an exhibit in Paris

Maria by Callas

And next Monday (Sept 18) A FULL DAY Maria Callas program on France Musique




Wanderer

#584

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: Wanderer on September 15, 2017, 05:50:01 AM
Also, an exhibition in Athens:

Μαρία Κάλλας: Ο μύθος ζει

There are tributes and exhibitions going on also in Venice, in Paris, in Dublin (where she never appeared), but nothing in London, which from 1952 until 1965 gave her one of her most loyal followings.


\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

betterthanfine

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on September 15, 2017, 02:24:28 AM
40 years ago today since the death of Maria Callas and it seems her influence is, if anything, more far reaching than ever.

To mark the event Warner is issuing a box set of Live Recordings, many of them in roles she never recorded. There has been much discussion as to where they went for their sources, and whether there are still better versions out there. For my money you can't do better than Divina Records or Ars Vocalis, but I've ordered the set anyway and look forward to its arrival later today.


I look forward to reading your thoughts about the remasters, and how they compare to other issues of the same recordings. I think I will cherry pick from these releases instead of buying the whole box, and go for the operas that either sound best or have not otherwise been recorded in full by Callas, like Macbeth. :)

knight66

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on September 15, 2017, 05:52:45 AM
There are tributes and exhibitions going on also in Venice, in Paris, in Dublin (where she never appeared), but nothing in London, which from 1952 until 1965 gave her one of her most loyal followings.

They have been too busy with Princess Diana.......

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: knight66 on September 15, 2017, 11:02:02 AM
They have been too busy with Princess Diana.......

Mike

True!
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Spineur

Some amusing Callas trivia:

about Renata Tebaldi
Quote"Comparing us is like comparing champagne with Coca-Cola"

This pasta commercial made her mad:
QuoteIt is by eating our spagetti that Callas lost half her weight.

Tsaraslondon

#590
The Tebaldi quote is a misappropriation.

Apparently Callas said in an interview that their repertoires were completely different and that comparing them was like comparing champagne with cognac. It was someone in the audience, who quipped. "No, Coca-Cola!". The mis-quote has dogged her all her life.

As for the pasta company, she  (rightly) sued it for falsely, and illegally using her name.


\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Peregrine

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on September 15, 2017, 02:24:28 AM
40 years ago today since the death of Maria Callas and it seems her influence is, if anything, more far reaching than ever.

To mark the event Warner is issuing a box set of Live Recordings, many of them in roles she never recorded. There has been much discussion as to where they went for their sources, and whether there are still better versions out there. For my money you can't do better than Divina Records or Ars Vocalis, but I've ordered the set anyway and look forward to its arrival later today.



I'd be very eager to know your thoughts as well. I'm streaming Anna Bolena via Apple though my Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin, so hard to guage accurately, but seems pretty impressive. However, I agree, the Divina Records have been the benchmark for some time.
Yes, we have no bananas

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: Peregrine on September 23, 2017, 01:25:25 AM
I'd be very eager to know your thoughts as well. I'm streaming Anna Bolena via Apple though my Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin, so hard to guage accurately, but seems pretty impressive. However, I agree, the Divina Records have been the benchmark for some time.

Discussion is raging on the Talk Classical forum as to which of the sources is best. In the final analysis, it will depend on how acute your ears are, and on your listening equipment.

Most contributors seem to be of the impression that the Divina Anna Bolena is still the one to have. I haven't got round to listening to that yet, so can't compare.

So far I have only listened to the Nabucco and some of the Parsifal. The Nabucco is definitely better than any other I have heard so far (though Ars Vocalis has recently issued a version, which is also very good) and the Parisfal sounds better to me than my old Gala version, though it favours the voices over the orchestra. As it's the voices I'm interested in, this is fine with me.

People were worried that Warner would just use the old, not very good, EMI sources, but, for the most part, this appears not to have been the case. They don't appear to have been able to do much with the ropey sources for La Vestale, Alceste and Andrea Chenier.

I have my doubts about certain choices. I'd have gone for the La Scala 1955 Norma over London 1952, and probably preferred Cologne 1957 La Sonnambula over La Scala 1955. I also prefer Covent Garden Traviata to Lisbon (both 1958). I wonder why they chose to include the rather rough and ready Mexico Rigoletto, especially given the excellence of the studio recording. Why not the brilliant La Scala Un Ballo in Maschera of 1957, which is also in pretty good sound? I think I'd also have gone for the Dallas 1958 Medea  in preference to the 1953 Bernstein La Scala one, but just by a whisker.

The booklet is a bit unexciting, and the leaflets accompanying each set include essays on the operas themselves, which I assume most purchasers would already be familiar with. I'd have preferred something on the production and the provenance of the recording. A CD-ROM with libretti and translations would also have been useful.

Not a total success, then, but not bad for the price.


\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Spineur

#593
For those interested in sound quality, I made a detailed comparison of a section of Vincenzo Bellini Il Pirata with Maria Callas as Imogene
from
1) the Warner live recording just issued.  The performance is Jan 27 th 1959 Carnegie Hall.  I dont own the CD I streamed it from Qobuz
2) Divina Record issue which uses the same performance as a source.
3) An excerpt released by Warner in the Callas rareties disc which was recorded in Nov 1961 at Kingsway Hall and is not a live performance.

3) has by far the best sound, unfortunately there is only 10 minutes of it.  I dont know if the whole opera from this recording session is available (have not seen it)
2) comes next.  The room noise is there but overall the sound is pretty clear.  The flac files are sort of funny has they dont play through my favorite player
1) A solid last, the Warner live remaster.  More room noise, an a muffled sound cutting the edge of Callas fortissimo

Peregrine

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on September 23, 2017, 03:18:56 AM
Discussion is raging on the Talk Classical forum as to which of the sources is best. In the final analysis, it will depend on how acute your ears are, and on your listening equipment.

Most contributors seem to be of the impression that the Divina Anna Bolena is still the one to have. I haven't got round to listening to that yet, so can't compare.

So far I have only listened to the Nabucco and some of the Parsifal. The Nabucco is definitely better than any other I have heard so far (though Ars Vocalis has recently issued a version, which is also very good) and the Parisfal sounds better to me than my old Gala version, though it favours the voices over the orchestra. As it's the voices I'm interested in, this is fine with me.

People were worried that Warner would just use the old, not very good, EMI sources, but, for the most part, this appears not to have been the case. They don't appear to have been able to do much with the ropey sources for La Vestale, Alceste and Andrea Chenier.

I have my doubts about certain choices. I'd have gone for the La Scala 1955 Norma over London 1952, and probably preferred Cologne 1957 La Sonnambula over La Scala 1955. I also prefer Covent Garden Traviata to Lisbon (both 1958). I wonder why they chose to include the rather rough and ready Mexico Rigoletto, especially given the excellence of the studio recording. Why not the brilliant La Scala Un Ballo in Maschera of 1957, which is also in pretty good sound? I think I'd also have gone for the Dallas 1958 Medea  in preference to the 1953 Bernstein La Scala one, but just by a whisker.

The booklet is a bit unexciting, and the leaflets accompanying each set include essays on the operas themselves, which I assume most purchasers would already be familiar with. I'd have preferred something on the production and the provenance of the recording. A CD-ROM with libretti and translations would also have been useful.

Not a total success, then, but not bad for the price.

Thank you! FWIW, I listened to excerpts from both the new Warner master of Anna Bolena and the Divina mastering, and defintely prefered the Divina. Even streaming through my Zeppelin, the Divina was less muffled and Callas' voice had more clarity.
Yes, we have no bananas

kishnevi

#595
QuoteAs before, my guide is Sir Denis Forman's sublimely witty and fond review of opera. My preferred version is this remastered 1956 recording *with a stellar cast led by Maria Callas. Nobody does "tormented" like Maria Callas. She could sing "These Are A Few of My Favorite Things" and make it sound so harrowing that the Von Trapp kids start wearing black and cutting themselves in the Hot Topic bathroom.


*



https://www.popehat.com/2017/08/19/popehat-goes-to-the-opera-un-ballo-in-maschera/

:laugh:

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on September 24, 2017, 04:32:03 PM
*



https://www.popehat.com/2017/08/19/popehat-goes-to-the-opera-un-ballo-in-maschera/

:laugh:

Very amusing. However I would not agree with him when he says the Love Duets are not the highlight of the opera. The great Act II duet is one of the greatest in opera.

There is a superb live Callas recording of the opera too, in not bad sound, from La Scala in 1957. Callas and Di Stefano repeat their roles, Bastianini is Renato and Simionato Ulrica. Gavazzeni is a rather more propulsive conductor than the routinier Votto.

I compare the two Callas sets on my blog.

https://tsaraslondon.wordpress.com/2017/03/24/callass-two-recordings-of-un-ballo-in-maschera/
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Spineur

#597
A new documentary movie "Maria by Callas" by Tom Wolf is coming out tomorrow.  Here is the clip

https://www.youtube.com/v/E-WGJbHfw9Q

A good review (in french) on Olyrix.  Based on this, I will go and see this documentary

https://www.olyrix.com/articles/production/1563/maria-by-callas-tom-volf-haut-et-court-distribution-sortie-13-decembre-2017-archives-inedit-opera-lyrique-star-legende-documentaire-biopic-film-cinema-compte-rendu-avis-critique-chronique

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: Spineur on December 07, 2017, 09:55:01 AM
A new documentary movie "Maria by Callas" by Tom Wolf is coming out tomorrow.  Here is the clip

https://www.youtube.com/v/E-WGJbHfw9Q

A good review (in french) on Olyrix.  Based on this, I will go and see this documentary

https://www.olyrix.com/articles/production/1563/maria-by-callas-tom-volf-haut-et-court-distribution-sortie-13-decembre-2017-archives-inedit-opera-lyrique-star-legende-documentaire-biopic-film-cinema-compte-rendu-avis-critique-chronique

If onlu I could get to see it, but so far no signs of a UK release, though there are  vague rumours about some time in March. The film is available on Amazon UK, but there appear to be different versions available, with narrations in French or English (Joyce DiDonato does the English one) and there seems no way of telling which you are buying. I would have thought that it would have been possible to publish just the one version and give the viewer the choice of which narration they would like, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Altogether a rather shoddy way to treat one of the greatest artistic phenomenons of the twentieth century.

\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

ritter

#599
Quote from: Tsaraslondon on January 22, 2019, 05:05:47 AM
If onlu I could get to see it, but so far no signs of a UK release, though there are  vague rumours about some time in March. The film is available on Amazon UK, but there appear to be different versions available, with narrations in French or English (Joyce DiDonato does the English one) and there seems no way of telling which you are buying. I would have thought that it would have been possible to publish just the one version and give the viewer the choice of which narration they would like, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Altogether a rather shoddy way to treat one of the greatest artistic phenomenons of the twentieth century.
This documentary is available here in Spain on cable TV (I saw it with narration in French). It is more a tabloid press overview of Callas"s life (Onassis and all that...) than a survey of her artistic achievements. Actually, it's almost counterproductive; e.g. her affected and artificial English diction (a girl from from New York speeking as if in a period melodrama from the 1930s) was really something. Even an admirer of Callas's art as myself couldn't help being reminded of Diana Vreeland's quip (perhaps apocryphal, as Mrs. Vreeland was a great admirer of Callas, and I've been unable to locate the quote since I read it many years ago). I paraphrase:  "Onstage she was divine, but at a dinner table she was as common as muck".  ::)