Maria Callas

[Guido]

Someone has done a new transfer/stereophonised version of Callas' 1957 La Scala Bolena (one of the greatest documents of her live singing IMO), and it sounds quite magnificent to me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkMf_aaxfz4&feature=plcp

There's a slightly squelchy noise at the opening, but its hugely preferably to the hiss I've heard on previous recordings, and it disappears for the all important "Al dolce guidami" (5:30 or so.)

[Tsaraslondon]

Someone has done a new transfer/stereophonised version of Callas' 1957 La Scala Bolena (one of the greatest documents of her live singing IMO), and it sounds quite magnificent to me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkMf_aaxfz4&feature=plcp

There's a slightly squelchy noise at the opening, but its hugely preferably to the hiss I've heard on previous recordings, and it disappears for the all important "Al dolce guidami" (5:30 or so.)

This seems to be a transfer from a BJR LP, a company who were renowned for superior transfers. Divina records have now issued their Anna Bolena, which is also a transfer from a BJR source. It could be the same version. I know I've been tempted to buy it. Divina records issues are expensive, but worth every penny.

I keep hoping for the Covent Garden La Traviata. Incidentally EMI often botched their live transfers. Their Macbeth seems to be a direct transfer from a Hunt CD issue, which spliced in a few seconds of a performance with Gencer to cover part of the big Act I finale that was lost in transmission. EMI make no mention of this in their notes to the CD, which suggests they were completely unaware of the missing section.

What is not in doubt is that the La Scala Anna Bolena was a great night in the theatre, with Callas at the peak of her powers. Has anyone, even Pasta, who created the role, sung the Giduici ad Anna section which launches the stretta at the end of Act I, with such intensity, with such blazingly vehement outrage? I very much doubt it.

[Guido]

Do you agree that it's more exciting/beautiful than the studio version?

[Tsaraslondon]

Do you agree that it's more exciting/beautiful than the studio version?

She only recorded the final scene in the studio, on what is one of my favourite Callas recitals "Mad Scenes", which also includes the final scene from Il Pirata and Ophelia's mad scene from Hamlet. The melismas at the close of Al dolce guidami are even more finely drawn out in the studio version (she judges her breath better and sings through the climactic high A, which she loses for a moment in the live version), but the cabaletta is more exciting in the live version, benefiting,as it does, from the presence of an audience.

[zamyrabyrd]

She only recorded the final scene in the studio, on what is one of my favourite Callas recitals "Mad Scenes", which also includes the final scene from Il Pirata and Ophelia's mad scene from Hamlet. The melismas at the close of Al dolce guidami are even more finely drawn out in the studio version (she judges her breath better and sings through the climactic high A, which she loses for a moment in the live version), but the cabaletta is more exciting in the live version, benefiting,as it does, from the presence of an audience.

Callas' "Mad Scenes" are obligatory for a stay on a desert isle. But if I don't have time to take the recording with me, I probably have most of it in my head for having listened to it so many times!

Here is a live performance of "Oh! s'io potessi dissipare le nubi" from Il Pirata in Hamburg 1959. The first part (not on the recording, I believe) is a symphony of facial expressions anticipating the scene, mirroring the emotions in the orchestral introduction:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAY7eDgTI28

She was the true mistress of Bel Canto in her prime (part 2):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GZ7WQpsgi0

ZB

[wagnernn]

I just came across this recording , which claims to be a "digital remaster". Indeed, the sound is much better than my old CDs.
http://www.deezer.com/en/album/6216955

Didnt notice before that Callas' Kundry is so seductive. There is something irresistible of her singing in Act 2. And Gui's conducting reveals its majesty under the new light thanks to the digital technology.

[Tsaraslondon]

I just came across this recording , which claims to be a "digital remaster". Indeed, the sound is much better than my old CDs.
http://www.deezer.com/en/album/6216955

Didnt notice before that Callas' Kundry is so seductive. There is something irresistible of her singing in Act 2. And Gui's conducting reveals its majesty under the new light thanks to the digital technology.

Many can't take Wagner sung in Italian (as it almost always was in Italy back then), but if you can, Callas's Kundry is more than just a curious footnote. She make Kundry the sensuous siren that she should be.

[Tsaraslondon]

BBC Radio 3' Building a Library today featured "Un Ballo in Maschera". Roger Parker eventually fined his choices down to four recordings, in chronological order, Callas/Di Stefano under Votto, Price/Bergonzi  under Leinsdorf, Arroyo/Domingo under Muti and M Price/Pavarotti under Solti. He eliminated Solti and Leinsdorf first, eventually being left with Muti and Votto.

I suppose I have to agree with his final choice of Muti, and the reasons for it; the better recording and more polished orchestral playing,  the greater finesse of Domingo's Riccardo. Ballo is, after all, the tenor's opera. That said, his preferred Amelia and Renato were Callas and Gobbi, and this Ballo, recorded in 1956, before she had sung the role on stage, finds her in great voice. It was a role that suited her well and a live recording under Gavazzeni made the following year, with Bastianini and Simionato replacing Gobbi and Barbieri, also shows her in stupendous voice, possibly the last time we hear her singing with such security. The performance was recorded on 7 December 1957. The next recorded Callas performance we have is the incomplete "Norma" from Rome on January 2, 1958, when, too ill to continue, she walked out mid performance, a scandal that dogged her till her dying day. Though there were still some great performances to come, the events of that night really marked the beginning of her rapid decline.

Looking through John Ardoin's "The Callas Legacy" it is to note that, though there were a few remarkable performances ahead of her (the Lisbon and Covent Garden "Traviatas", the Dallas "Medea") she never again sang with the power and insouciant ease of that La Scala Amelia. Is it too fanciful to think that she never really recovered from the emotional scars of trying, and failing, to perform when far too ill to do so? The press were merciless, Pathe news even faking evidence to show Callas singing perfectly in rehearsal (the clip they showed was actually Callas singing at a radio concert the previous year),  and screaming about the insult to the President of Italy, who was present at the performance, though the fault lay clearly at the door of the Rome Opera, who had no understudy at the ready. Callas had informed the management that she was not well two days before the performance, but, stupidly, as it turned out, allowed herself to be coerced by them into performing.

After this performance, the Rome Opera cancelled her contract, though by the next performance a week later, she had recovered her voice. Callas sued the Rome Opera for breach of contract, a case that she won, but it had dragged on for years, and it was a hollow success. By that time her career was over and the damage could never be undone. One has to wonder why the press and media were so vicious in their condemnation of her. From that day on, they seemed hell bent on some sort of character assassination. Looking back on her career now, we can see that Callas's cancellation record was actually quite good, and that she in fact cancelled far less than most opera singers. In fact, after Rome, she often sang against doctor's orders for fear of what the press would say if she cancelled.

I am not saying she was easy to deal with, but Rudolf Bing once admitted that she was harder to deal with than most singers, because there was always a good reason for her demands, that she wasn't merely being capricious.

Interestingly she enjoyed a good relationship with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden from her first performance there in 1952 to her last in 1965, when she cancelled a series of Toscas for health reasons, agreeing to sing only one, a Royal Gala. Given the parlous state of her voice on that occasion, it was obviously a decision well taken, and was in fact the last time she appeared in opera anywhere in the world.

[knight66]

Very interesting post, thanks.

Mike

[Wendell_E]

In honor of her 90th birthday, La Divina is today's "Google Doodle"

[Octave]

[Guido]

Lest anyone be in doubt of the beauty, ease, power, and infinite resource of Callas's voice on the evidence of her later recordings, just listen to this. Virtually every moment is breathtaking:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dObANnzSIMc

she said she sang like a wild cat in those early years and recommended that people not search these recordings out, and though her artistry certainly became more refined, this is just unbelievable singing.

[knight66]

I have not heard that recording before. The voice has a softness there and the trills are beautifully done. She was always an individual, even very early on the template of her greatness is clear.

Mike

[Tsaraslondon]

This was actually the first time Callas had ever sung Leonora. She had asked Serafin to help her prepare the role, but he refused, saying that he had no intention of laying the groundwork down for another conductor, so she prepared it alone. She did sing it under Serafin a few months later in Naples (with Lauri-Volpi who praised her extravagantly) and there are a few refinements in that performance, but, if anything, the similarities in execution show how instinctive and intuitive her art was.

[Tsaraslondon]

I've just taken delivery of Warner's Callas Remastered Box Set; all the studio recordings, including those made for Cetra, going back to the master tapes and correcting errors in past reissues.

I still have a lot of listening to do, but so far these new remasters are proving to be far better than anything achieved by EMI. There are a couple of essays in the hard back book that comes with the set, about how the remasters were done, and the painstaking work involved.

This might be the last word on Callas remasters - at least for the foreseeable future.

[betterthanfine]

I'm dying to get my hands on that set. What did you pay for it, Tsaraslondon?

[Tsaraslondon]

I'm dying to get my hands on that set. What did you pay for it, Tsaraslondon?

It was an early Christmas present from a friend who sent me an Amazon voucher, so I had to get it from Amazon UK - just over £200 with free postage. It's cheaper from MDT, but I think you have to pay postage on that.

Believe me, this is way way better than any of the previous issues we have had. Both voice and orchestra sound so much more real, more present. And, in the later recordings, the voice sounds fuller, less harsh.  I was listening to the second Tosca, prepared to flinch before the high notes, as I have done in the past. Maybe my memory is wrong, or maybe my hearing isn't as good as it used to be, but they did seem to sound better, though not perfect by any means.

The only problem for me is documentation. The book has some great photos and excellent articles about the remastering process, plus an interview with Robert Gooch, who worked on the second Callas Norma, but the selected chronology is patchy, as is the biographical material. I also miss the excellent essays John Steane wrote to accompany all the EMI reissues.

I'll live with that though, as the sound is so much better on these new remasters.

[knight66]

I thought that I would try out one disc and see if it was significantly different from my old versions. I bought the first Verdi recital with the Macbeth on it. The voice sounds remarkably present in the room, that is good and also on occasion uncomfortable. A pity the Traviata included seems to be so unexceptional apart from Callas's embrionic Violetta. I have still to get hold of her in the part and can't now track your advice of which issue by what compnay of which recording/performance. I would also like to get the disc with her Isolda extract, very early Callas and the voice in excellent condiition.

Mike

[king ubu]

Bought the new Callas box last week ... it's wonderful!

One very minor issue is that discs aren't numbered/sorted in any way, so once you take them out and don't know the sequence of recording by heart, it'll take a moment to get them sorted again - a bit silly, but I'll just print out a sheet with the proper order and add it to the box (the outside sheet, under the shrinkwrap, pictures all covers, but no in sequence either).

Anyway, I posted the following elsewhere, mind me, I'm no audiophile and have little knowledge about tech speech, but still to some it may be of interest:

Can't really write an elaborate review, but in my amateurish words, I seem to hear greater clarity, better definition of sound - both on the voice as well as on the orchestra. Also more presence if that makes sense, on the voice. And more balance on the whole - some of the high (vocal) notes on the older set sound pretty shrill to me, which is less the case on the new one (i.e. the final bit before the instrumental part in "Una voce poco fa").

This is based on comparing music from:

    "Puccini Arias" ("Si, Mi chiamamano Mimì", "O mio babbino caro")
    "Lyric & Coloratura Arias" ("Ecco: respiro appena. Io son l'umile ancella", "L'altro notte, in fondo al mare", "Una voce poco fa") (I love that album dearly!)

    La Traviata: the low level noise (tape sound or whatever it is) is still there or there is maybe even a bit more of it in the Preludio, but the whole thing has better definition (i.e. when the double basses enter, or that part when the violins start playing that charming upward three-note motif around 3 minutes in - they emerge from the orchestra here, while on the old one, they sound more like added icing on top - meaning they're easier to hear in the first few seconds, but the new version sounds more organic if that makes any sense)
    In "È strano! È strano!" the low level hiss seems to be less, the voice seems to have a tiny bit more "body" and you get much less of the artifacts (wobble) when Callas hits those high and loud notes.

    Tosca (1953): "Ed or fra noi parliam da buoni amici ...Sciarrone, che dice il Cavalier?" - again, everything seems just a tad better defined and livelier - orchestra and voices. The heat seems to be more present, the brass really shines, the bass grumbles, yet I don't hear any bleeding like there is occasionally on the older version. So yeah, they bring it to the fore without overdoing it.
    "Vissi d'arte": again here you get those artifacts (some distortion of the background "noise" or whatever it is, when the voice goes up high at high volume) - you still get some of it on the new remaster, but at the same time, it all sounds much warmer (both voice and orchestra).

So, more presence, less sonic mush (from which both orchestra and, though to a lesser extent, the voice seems to suffer on the older version) ... clearer definition, more polish on the whole yet still more "aggressiveness" in detail, sound is more "graphic" somehow. Not sure how much sense this all makes, I'm really not used to try and put such things into words.

Again I hasten to add: I'm no audiophile, don't have any high-end equipment (I don't even know the brand of speakers I'm using right now, they were bought used at the thrift store when I needed another pair).

As for the whole presentation, the bloated box is a bit silly - the book isn't a bit larger (higher) than CD size, but still ... the original covers are indeed a big step forward from the generic blue ones of the 90s edition. Having all those photos, both in the book and inside the booklets included with the CDs is nice as well. Some of the paper sleeves in which the discs are put are a tiny bit too large, so you have to kinda shake them out of the cardboard covers ... you need those paper sleeves as they contain the tracklists (for the operas, you only get them there, for the recitals, they're also on the back side of the cardboard covers. What is a bit annoying: the discs are in no way numbered (except for "La Traviata" discs 1 and 2 and the likes). So to put them back in order, if you don't know the sequence by heart (I surely don't), you need to fumble out the separate booklets and check the recording dates, as even the catalogue numbers visible on each disc represent any sequence. Minor issue for sure, but I do care for chronological order often, also often sequence my listening that way (and no, on the paper inside the shrinkwrap but outside of the box, the covers are not depicted in order, either!).


As for "L'altro notte" from Boito's Mefistofele, I think Caballé beats anyone, but that aria is just so darn gorgeous and hearing Callas sings it is a great experience every time for me!

And what an effin' tragedy it is that Callas wasn't able to do a proper studio "Traviata" ... granted, the live one with Ghione is magnificient (my favourite recording, I think, of this opera, Kleiber can't compete because of his weak Violetta ... the Serafin with Simionato is good, too, but what would I give to have Callas in there!


Now excuse me while I start listening the entire "Tosca" ... (added for GMG: which proved as devastating an experience as ever ... can't play it too often, this recording - the early mono one that is - is really a life-changing power!)

______________



The sequence of contents, just in case:

1949
- First Recordings: Arias from Tristan, Norma, I Puritani; conductor: Arturo Basile

1952
- Ponchielli: La Gioconda; conductor: Antonio Votto

1953
- Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor; conductor: Tullio Serafin
- Bellini: I puritani; conductor: Serafin
- Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana; conductor: Serafin
- Puccini: Tosca; conductor: Victor de Sabata
- Verdi: La traviata; conductor: Gabriele Santini

1954
- Bellini: Norma; conductor: Serafin
- Leoncavallo: Pagliacci; conductor: Serafin
- Verdi: La forza del destino; conductor: Serafin
- Rossini: Il turco in Italia; conductor: Gianandrea Gavazzeni
- Puccini Arias; conductor: Serafin
- Operatic Arias (aka Lyric & Coloratura Arias); conductor: Serafin

1955
- Callas at La Scala: Arias from La sonnambula, Medea, La vestale; conductor: Serafin
- Puccini: Madama Butterfly; conductor: Herbert von Karajan
- Verdi: Aida; conductor: Serafin
- Verdi: Rigoletto; conductor: Serafin

1956
- Verdi: Il trovatore; conductor: Karajan
- Puccini: La bohème; conductor: Votto
- Verdi: Un ballo in Maschera; conductor: Votto

1957
- Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia; conductor: Alceo Galliera
- Bellini: La sonnambula; conductor: Votto
- Puccini: Turandot; conductor: Serafin
- Puccini: Manon Lescaut; conductor: Serafin
- Cherubini: Medea; conductor: Serafin

1958
- Verdi Arias I: Macbeth, Nabucco, Ernani, Don Carlo; conductor: Nicola Rescigno
- Mad Scenes: Anna Bolena, Hamlet, Il pirate; conductor: Rescigno

1959
- Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor; conductor: Serafin
- Ponchielli: La Gioconda; conductor: Votto

1960
- Bellini: Norma; conductor: Serafin

1961
- Callas à Paris: Arias; conductor: Georges Prêtre

1963
- Callas à Paris: Arias; conductor: Prêtre

1963/64
- Arias by Mozart, Beethoven and Weber; conductor: Rescigno
- Verdi Arias II: Otello, Aroldo, Don Carlo; conductor: Rescigno
- Arias by Rossini and Donizetti; conductor: Rescigno

1964
- Bizet: Carmen; conductor: Prêtre

1964/65
- Puccini: Tosca; conductor: Prêtre

1964/65/69
- Verdi Arias III: I lombardi, Attila, Il corsaro, Il trovatore, I vespri siciliani, Un ballo in maschera, Aida; conductor: Rescigno

1953/58/60/61
- Rarities; conductors: Prêtre, Rescigno, Serafin, Antonio Tonini

[Tsaraslondon]

I thought that I would try out one disc and see if it was significantly different from my old versions. I bought the first Verdi recital with the Macbeth on it. The voice sounds remarkably present in the room, that is good and also on occasion uncomfortable. A pity the Traviata included seems to be so unexceptional apart from Callas's embrionic Violetta. I have still to get hold of her in the part and can't now track your advice of which issue by what compnay of which recording/performance. I would also like to get the disc with her Isolda extract, very early Callas and the voice in excellent condiition.

Mike

Mike, my favourite Traviata is the 1958 performance from Covent Garden, a night when everything goes right. The rest of the cast, Valletti an ideal, and stylish Alfredo, Zanasi a sympathetic and musical Germont, and Rescigno brings sanity and song to the performance, We even get Marie Collier as Flora. Callas always enjoyed working at Covent Garden, possibly because there were never any arguments about adequate rehearsal time, nor did she have to put up with multiple casts, as she often did at the Met, often not knowing until she got on stage just who the tenor would be. The congenial working environment in London obviously contributed to the success of all her performances there.

There are several pressings of this performance out there, but the best is probably the one on ICA. There is a curious anomaly in this version however. In all other versions you can hear Callas softly warming up, and singing along a couple of notes in the Act I Prelude. These notes are entirely absent from the ICA issue. I did write to them about it, but, though they responded, they didn't really come up with a good explanation.

The Lisbon Traviata with Kraus that was eventually issued by EMI in an attempt to repair their omission, is also a good performance, but I prefer Zanasi as Germont, and Ghione is a bit four square. The sound on the Covent Garden is also better, a good BBC Third Programme broadcast.