Donizetti: Lucia Di Lammermoor with Maria Callas, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Tullio Serafin, Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus

Gaetano Donizetti (Composer), Tullio Serafin (Conductor), Philharmonia Orchestra of London (Orchestra), Maria Callas (Performer), Ferruccio Tagliavini (Performer), Bernardo Ladysz (Performer), Leonard del Ferro (Performer), Margreta Elkins (Performer), Piero Cappuccilli (Performer), Renzo Casellato (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Maria Callas, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Bernardo Ladysz, Leonard del Ferro, Margreta Elkins, et al.
• Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra of London
• Conductor: Tullio Serafin
• Composer: Gaetano Donizetti
• Audio CD (August 19, 1997)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B000002RXT
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #191,633 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #35 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Divas > Callas, Maria

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act I, No. 1a, 'Percorrete le spiagge vicine'

2. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act I, No. 1b, 'Tu sei turbato'

3. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act I, No. 1c, 'Cruda, funesta smania'

4. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act I, No. 1d, 'La pietade in suo favore'

5. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act I, No. 2a, 'Ancor non giunse?'

6. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act I, No. 2b, 'Regnava nel silenzio'

7. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act I, No. 2c, 'Quando rapito in estasi'

8. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act I, No. 3a, 'Egli s'avanza'

9. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act I, No. 3b, 'Lucia perdona'

10. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act I, No. 3c, 'Sulla tomba'

See all 14 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act II, No. 5c, 'Soffriva nel pianto'

2. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act II, No. 5d, 'Se tradirmi'

3. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act II, No. 6, 'Ebben?... Di tua speranza'

4. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act II, No. 7a, 'Per te d'immenso giubilo'

5. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act II, No. 7b, 'Per poco fra le tenebre'

6. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act II, No. 7c, 'Dov'e Lucia?'

7. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act II, No. 8, 'Chi mi frena' (Sextet)

8. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act II, No. 9, 'T'allontana, sciagurato'

9. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act III, No. 10, 'Orrida e questa notte' (Wolf's Crag Scene)

10. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera: Act III, No. 11, 'D'immenso giubilo'

See all 20 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark, brooding & fantastic, April 3, 2001

By 

David E. Levine (Peekskill , NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Donizetti: Lucia Di Lammermoor with Maria Callas, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Tullio Serafin, Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus (Audio CD)

How different two separate interpretations can be! Joan Sutherland (who I heard sing this role at the Met) was a very lyrical Lucia. In the mad scene she was sweet and pathetic as she lost contact with reality. Callas, on the other hand showed a dark side. She truly was insane .. she was scary .. she was great but in such a different way than Sutherland. Where Sutherland did coloratura trills, Callas did dramatic shrieks. Sutherland was riveting by the sheer beauty of her voice. Callas was riveting by the intensity and theatrics of her voice. Sutherland serenely crosses the line into unreality, Callas wildly goes stark raving mad. They were both fantastic in entirely different ways and this recording is a fine example of Callas in this great role.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars CALLAS GENIUS STILL TRIUMPHS OVER VOCAL PROBLEMS, June 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Donizetti: Lucia Di Lammermoor with Maria Callas, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Tullio Serafin, Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus (Audio CD)

This EMI recording was done in 1959, a time when Callas' days as Lucia were numbered. In fact, her final performances of this role came only a matter of months after the completion of this recording. She is by no means as in secure voice as she was in her previous EMI "Lucia" recordings. Embellishments and cadenzas in the Mad Scene are kept to a bare minimum, due in great part to the fact that Callas's extreme top notes are precarious and not at all attractive. But this is still a great Lucia, and there are some great moments. The Fountain aria in Act I is still effective in it's brooding and foreboding way, and the Mad Scene (even with abbreviated cadenzas and strident top E flats) is a panorama of vocal colorings and shadings. Still a very powerful piece of singing, from beginning to end.Callas's tenor partner here, Ferrucio Tagliavini, was somewhat past his best singing days at the time of this recording, does his best singing in the Tomb Scene, while Piero Cappuccilli, then at the beginning of his career, sings a really fine Enrico. Serafin's pacing is appropriately dramatic and tense, and the sound of the 1959 stereo stands up well. But no matter. This is a Callas performance, and is in many ways truly representative of her genius, even at a time when her voice was giving her the problems that resulted in her tragic and premature withdrawal from the opera stage in 1965.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Please - This is not the 1953 Recording and its Stereo!, September 15, 2002

By 

Chaconnesque "chaconnesque" (Singapore, Singapore Singapore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Donizetti: Lucia Di Lammermoor with Maria Callas, Ferruccio Tagliavini, Tullio Serafin, Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus (Audio CD)

I read several reviews that refer to this as the 1953 recording with di Stefano, Gobbi et al. It is NOT! It is her last recording of Lucia, and made when she was already past her prime, in 1959. As mentioned in some of the reviews her 1955 live recording with Karajan is her best, followed by her 1953 recording. It would be unfair to compare her singing at this stage (or even when she's at her best!) with Sutherland as the latter is primarily a coloratura whereas Callas is a dramatic soprano. To compare them is to entirely miss the point and is entirely dependent on our expectations of the music and the singing vs acting. In spite of her flaws I prefer Callas to Sutherland, even in 1959 when her high notes aren't what they should be, because her singing/acting moves me. But if you prefer flawless, serenely, heavenly singing, go for Sutherland. I will refrain from using the word 'canary-like'.