Customer Reviews

Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor / Callas, di Stefano, Panerai, Zaccaria; Karajan

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This recording is not only a document of immense historical interest, it also preserves in sound what is by all standards a magnificent performance of Donizetti's opera.

At the centre of the stage is, of course, Maria Callas. Her portrayal of Lucia in the Berlin performance captured here is a trifle more pallid than that in her first EMI studio recording. Some of the vocal accentuations are also less strongly etched than previously, although there continues to be lots of interesting details in her interpretation of the part. There is, by contrast, an increased tenderness in both characterisation and vocal utterance which highlights the vulnerability and helplessness of the heroine, and thereby making the final tragedy even more shocking and poignant. The "Mad Scene" is hauntingly introspective and it is thus entirely appropriate that Callas doesn't opt for an E flat in alt at the end of "Ardon gli incensi", which otherwise would have been musically and dramatically inconsistent with the interpretation of the scene. Nevertheless, Callas is generally in very good voice and her coloratura singing in the extended cadenza in the "Mad Scene" is, barring just one unsteady B flat, impressively executed. On the whole, she has given us a mesmerising portrayal of Lucia with many vocal delights along the way.

Opposite Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano gives what must be one of his best performances as Edgardo. Not only is he in marvellous vocal form, his singing is involving and red-blooded, making him the perfect romantic hero of great ardour. He is here also more subtle and stylish than usual, caressing his lines and even individual words in the act one duet. He performs the final scene with great sensitivity and succeeds in making this scene, which can be an anti-climax in some performances, a most tragically moving one.

The other cast members are also excellent. Rolando Panerai sings lustily as Enrico and, through his vocal acting, one can almost see how he put pressure onto her poor sister. Nicola Zaccaria is a warm and sympathetic Raimondo while Giuseppe Zampieri and Luisa Villa are respectively an aristocratic Arturo and an attentive Alisa. The La Scala Chorus, despite some ragged ensemble in places, sings with feeling and panache.

And there's Herbert von Karajan. Some people may wonder whether a Karajan is necessary for this opera, which is basically a vehicle for star singers. However, under the sure hands of Karajan, the orchestral playing is not only secure, it is also impressively sculpted with lots of light and shade (and some Beethovenian accents in Act II), which makes one appreciate the score afresh. It is evident that there exists a wonderful rapport between the stage and the pit and everything coalesce into a complete, consistent and organic whole, which never fails to move and thrill the listener.

As the recorded sound is above average for a stage performance in the mid-50s, this set has provided me with immense pleasure. Not only would I put it above both the studio versions of the opera with Callas, it is, to me, the ultimate LUCIA which no one should afford to miss.

Where to start? "Lucia" did not appear to eb an opera I'd ever even listen to in its entirety---too dated, too "tweety-birdish", just a little moldy around the edges. It was a review somewhere suggesting that this performance was on a higher plane of being, so to speak, that led me to try it--to venture back before Puccini and Verdi into an earlier time.

And what a pick with which to start! By Callas' completely haunting and atmospheric "Regnava nel silenzio", I was hooked. Then the dashing entrance of di Stefano's totally engaging and dashing Edgardo. Then their long scene ending in the almost preternaturally wonderful "Verranno a te"---in which the orchestra under Karajan, the soprano and the tenor are so wedded, so sympatico.

In the long scene with Rolando Panerai, also having a stellar night, Karajan, Callas and Panerai are all so vivid, and the ominous overtone grows yet stronger. Panerai is so compelling: alternately cajoling, then snarling commandingly at the hapless Lucia.

At Edgardo's furious, anguished entrance, in which he attempts to stop the wedding, the drama takes a darker turn yet. Di Stefano's fury and heartbreak are real, and effective.

Callas' mad scene completely revised my understanding of bel canto mad scenes. Varying her vocal tone, she takes Lucia through confusion, longing, agony, daydreams---right over the brink into a palpable madness.

The tenor owns the final scene, of course, and we see no more of Lucia. Di Stefano has rather more bite than one is accustomed to hearing in "Tombe degli" and "Fra poco". His "Tu che a Dio spiegasti l'ali" is unforgettable, though; and he reaches a power and a beautiful sadness in this scene, one of his most moving in all his recordings. His phrasing, the sheer beauty of his voice, and his intelligence of interpretation have not, in my opinion, been matched by his successors.

EMI's liner notes call this performance "a night of nights". ANY day or night in which an opera lover plays this memorable set becomes special. It is a vivid, haunting, rousing, dramatic, and wonderfully musical experience---once experienced, never to be pushed aside. This set will not be taken lightly: it commands your attention, and ultimately, your devotion.

Bel canto is not only about high notes and fireworks (as some listeners and singers in the mould of, for example, Edita Gruberova, would think, it is one of the most expressive music ever written. Callas was the first to REALLY understand that, and she marvellously restored a great 19th century tradition of using heavier voices in this kind of opera. The type of soprano is called drammatico con agilita which is able to convey emotion and sing the musical line in a sort of "lunar" way that Rost, Svenson, Gruberova etc. cannot even hint at. Sutherland and Scotto came close to this ideal at least as far as Lucia is concerned, but they just couldn't surpass Callas. Nowadays, voices of this calibre have gone and both theatres and recording companies have to make do with thin voices (I am tempted to say "canaries")which are all right to produce E-flats and other virtuosities (if this is what you look for in bel canto), but they are literally crippled when it comes to musical drama and phrasing.

Callas' Berlin performance is legendary, to my mind superior to both Callas studio recordings and an example to follow in portraying the haunted Lucy and creating the right atmosphere from the very beginning (listen to her Regnava nel silenzio...). The crowning glory is, of course, the mad scene, so distant and yet true and close, and I couldn't care less about the famous "missing" E-flat (so often underlined by those with arena mentality), if you want to have one, and a good one, just wait until the end of the scene.

I am thrilled to see that Callas continues to arouse sometimes violent controversy among opera fans, since controversy is her main feature. She continues to outsell all living sopranos. She swept aside a number of bad habits (alas they are being re-introduced)and showed the direction to embark in so many operas. Even now every respectable singer trembles when taking on a "Callas role", such was her impact. Tosca, Norma, Lucia and Traviata - her most famous roles - are champ de battaille of Callas fans and detractors also at Amazon: most probably you would have a one or five stars rating, because you adore her or you don't like her at all. She continues to "upset" people. Can anything of the above be said of any other soprano and all that 34 years after her final curtain and 22 years after her death?

I got this recording from a friend... From all the Lucias I know (Among them Sutherland and others) this has emerged as the most haunting and lovely one. Truly essential, as Amazon says. Callas moved me to tears, di Stefano sounds gorgeous and Panerai is stunning... It's live, it has von Karajan... It CAN'T get any better!

If you want a pretty, faceless Lucia, then buy one of Sutherland's recordings and enjoy the vocalise. But if you want the essence of Lucia - the ecstacy, the fear, the pain, and convincing madness you must hear this recording. Callas was no melifluous songbird, that is true, but she was one of the few singers who understood that bel canto was opera and opera means drama! Yes, live recordings do take some patience, but the rewards can be incomparable. I have heard many Lucias on disc, studio jobs and otherwise. This is the finest overall for all who are truly serious about what opera is really about!

I have owned this opera it seems like forever, I have it on LP, and CD. This perfromance is incredible,with Callas, Di Stefano and Von Karajan how can you go wrong. Remember this performance was done in Berlin on a La Scala visit. It was recorded live, with no chance of retakes. The mad scene with Callas was riveting, and the "Fra poco" and finale with Di Stefano is one of the greatest moment in opera history. The aria "Fra poco" by Di Stefano was greated with an audience reaction that was overwhelming, to say the least. It starts out with light applause that just grows, and grows - then a rumbling starts, growing louder and louder until you realize that the usually staid, reserved Germans are stamping their feet! - and then the screaming starts "Bravo, Bravo". It still amazes me. The finale (again Di Stefano) "Tu che a Dio spiegasti l'ali" is sung with such a passion, and conviction that it is exhausting just to listen to it. It too is greated with a tremendous ovation, which I believe reaches a crescendo when the curtain re-opens and the cast begins taking their curtain calls. To all the Callas fans out there, this is a great performance - but, make no mistake about it, this is Di Stefano's show. A perfromance to remember, and a must on every opera fans list.

I came, I read, and was so exasperated by the petty diva wars currently being perpetuated between supporters of Callas, Sutherland and Sills. It is clear that the individual merit of these artists matter little to those who have declared war. I had decided not to write anyting, because I admire all three of them, but when I realised that this recording, along with many other Callas recordings (as well as those of Sutherland and Sills), became the target of ill informed partisans, I was compelled to write.
You might ask why I chose to review a Callas recording, and in particular, this recording. There are three reasons: Firstly, I have already written a very positive review of Sutherland's second Lucia, in which I also praised Sills's recording. Second, it is time for someone to respond to some of the degrading critique regarding Callas's singing, which to me has now become very, very tedious. Thirdly, Callas was an operatic phenomenon - a unique singer with an exceptional range and impact which made her legendary even before her death.

This recording captures Callas in excellent voice, even though it is live and at some stages deteriorates a little (the general quality is actually quite good). At times the recording also has a "thin" or "sharp" quality to it. These, however, are of little concern if you focus on the music and what happens artistically. Callas sings "Regnava nel silenzio" with haunting intensity, the melody and musical line accentuated. Other singers add (excessive) fioritura at this point in an attempt to convey the drama of the narrative, but Callas never approved of unnecessary embellishments. This is part of the reason why her art is so readily misunderstood. To her, the drama of the opera was always more important than the fireworks. People tend to equate "bel canto" with vocal pyrotechnics or mere "beautiful singing", when in fact it is (in Callas's own words) "a schooling". It is a way of singing, a method through which one learns to sing. It is therefore very easy to listen to various recordings of the Mad Scene of this opera, search out the singer with the best display of vocal fireworks, and then hail her as the "queen" of bel canto and of opera.
What makes Callas different? What makes her approach unique? This very difficult to answer. One would tend to give complicated answers. When Callas was asked what she felt was the most important facet of performing music, she made a caressing gesture and answered: "You must make love to it." In this simple declarative sentence lies the essence of Maria's art. She created, through her voice and her devotion, a myriad of intensely involved emotions and colours. Bellini once proclaimed a "weeping in sound" as ideal for his tragic romantic operas. This suited Callas perfectly. But more than this, she could perfectly create an outraged tone. She could portray hatred, anxiety and pure madness. May I remind you that in this recording, Callas remained mainly motionless in the middle of the stage for the whole of the Mad Scene! She blew the audience away with her voice, gestures and her dramatic facial expressions! When you understand what she wants to do, what she wants to portray, you'd understand why she omits the first high e - flat in the Mad Scene. You will also cease your tiresome comments about her voice, because one cannot divorce the voice with what she did with it. It is true that listening to her is like listening to no other. She was like no other. Comparing her voice to others is futile. But if you can learn to love it, learn to recognise its beauty, the various timbres, you will be amazed by this rendition of Lucia.

I have also noticed that so many people proclaim their favourite soprano as the "Prima Donna Assoluta" or "Soprano Assoluta", thereby proclaiming her as the best. This title is often misunderstood and misused. Tulio Serafin once said of Callas: "That woman can sing anything written for the female voice". This embodies what was origanally meant by the categorization of "Soprano Assoluta" - a singer that transcended the traditional boundries and categories implictly and explicitly set for different female vocalists - someone who could sing both Kundry and Lucia, Norma and Anna Bolena, Medea and Violetta. In the previous century this was achieved by Callas alone. Her voice was characteristic of a forgotten age- that of the "soprano sfogato" or "soprano drammatico d'agilita". Of course she had her faults and vocal deficiencies, but she was the only soprano to sucessfully juxtapose roles that are (vocally speaking) worlds apart. Bruce Saxon made the following comments in this regard: "There are even a few sopranos that command vocal ranges as wide as that of Callas in her prime, and at least two command florid techniques which equal and at times surpass hers: Sutherland and Beverly Sills. All the notes are there, but the theoretical casting of Sills as Gioconda or Brunnhilde, Sutherland as Kundry or Carmen would be inappropriate, if not preposterous. Nor would Monserrat Caballé or Leontyne Price succeed on equal ground with Callas within the breadth of her repertoire. In these cases, vocal color, technical agility and approach would prove disappointing or unsuitable. Callas stands apart in that she was capable of actually changing the timbre of her voice from role to role, register to register, and make this peculiar vocal alchemy succeed (it's a long, long way from the requisites of Medea to those of La Sonambula)...Callas' voice type is no more, and as such she was an anachronism."
She could sing an unbelievable, technically brilliant Lucia, followed by a fierce Lady MacBeth... an example of a feat that no other soprano after her could replicate. She was the "Prima Donna Assoluta" of the previous century. There is no doubt about that.

Get this recording and indulge yourself in the art of an operatic genius - one who offered herself to her art.

there's no doubt about it that this is the best recording of lucia i've ever heard. i've heard other recordings of lucia, but none of those recordings made me feel the pain and suffering of Lucia. none of them made me understand and feel the character.

i would also like to respond to the one reviewer who gave this recording one star. true, sutherlands voice is beautiful, but a beautiful voice is not enough in opera. the artist must be able to back it up. opera is just not about singing, it is also about acting. no other artist has surpassed maria callas in that category. i mean, if the heroine is dying or going mad, it doesnt make sense if the voice sounds beautiful. the listener would not feel the pain and anguish the character is going through. and this is true with the sutherland recording. especially the mad scene, when i heard it, i asked myself "isn't she supposed to be going mad. i am not feeling the pain and anguish the character is going through".

that is one big difference between maria and joan, maria made you feel what the character was going through. maria had the guts to alter her voice to make the listener feel the character. she had the guts to alter her voice to make the viewer and listener feel and understand the character. if sutherland had the ability to that, there's no doubt that i would be a bigger fan of hers. i only listen to her when i want to hear something pretty. but if i want to get into the music, i listen to maria callas because she had the talent and artistry to make me feel the music.

This live recording, made in 1955, is truly a treasure for opera lovers and a great introduction to romantic opera for those making their entrance into the magic sound-world of opera. It stars Giuseppe Di Stefano as the tenor hero, Edgardo, Maria Callas as the doomed Donizetti heroine, Rolando Panerai as her scheming, overbearing brother Enrico, and conducting the score is Maestro Herbert Karajan. Karajan must be given credit for making this opera so popular and exquisite, and the singers do their performances justice. At a time when Lucia Di Lammermoor was regarded as sugary, bel canto, romantic fluff, Karajan and his team dedicated themselves into presenting the opera as a dramatic, artistic powerhouse. Karajan treats the score with such dignity that it seems he had found a lost Wagner opera.

Giuseppe Di Stefano shines as Edgardo, it is in fact his greatest performance. His duets with Lucia and his final scene at the tomb is incredible, almost resembling what the performance of Enrico Caruso might have been like at the turn of the century. Maria Callas' greatest role was as Bellini's Norma, but as Lucia, she is equally powerful, impressive, and genuinely dramatic. Her arias "Regnava nel Silenzio" and "Quando riposti in estasi" are monuments on to themselves. "Regnava" foreshadows her future madness as she rants about a ghost in the fountain of the park near the family home and "Quando Riposti" is a brilliant declaration of her love for Edgardo.

The sextet Che Mi Frena is a fascinating psychological portrayal. In that scene, Edgardo arrives from war in France to discover that his beloved Lucia is marrying Arturo. He has no idea that Enrico, Lucia's brother, has forged letters and deceived Lucia into thinking Edgardo had abandoned her. The individual singers demonstrate their moods- Edgardo is raving and jealous, Arturo is bewildered and upset, Enrico is furious with paternal concern and Lucia is now mentally fragile, entering a nervous breakdown which later becomes the famous-

Mad Scene....If you have ever wondered what all the fuss was about Maria Callas, her dramatization of the Mad Scene would explain everything. While many sopranos before her had sung Lucia's Mad Scene (the aria begins in "Il Dulce Suono" and goes on for some time), they had merely presented the scene as a pretty parlor piece, a bel canto cake with no real substance. After all, the scene feautres brilliant display of coloratura accompanied traditionally by flute, high notes and roulades. But Maria Callas actually becomes insane, so powerful is her performance. We forget she is singing and we are lost in the incredible dramatic touch. Note the dramatic, neurotic inflection in her screams "Edgardo! Edgardo!" and "il fantasma!". Not all of the Mad Scene is chalk full of dark, distrubing drama, in the midsection between the ranting coloratura there are passages for rich, full lyricism, and Maria Callas is unsurpassed in this part as well. The only other singer who has interpreted the role of Lucia with equal dramatic flair and even a more beautiful voice is Beverly Sills, who made her debut in London's Covent Garden in this opera.

So there you have it. This is the Lucia Di Lammermoor to get for a powerfully dramatic work. It does not only explain Maria Callas' reputation, it demonstrates what emotional power lurks behind the vocal beauty, musicianship and technique. It is a lesson on how Italian opera really works.

Critics like Kesting, Blyth, Dragadze and Steane called this the greatest Lucia ever. Despite cuts and its not being a studio-recording it features a superb Dacapo of the sextett, Callas sounds far more tender, fragile and moving than on previous recordings (Live and studio) and Panerai and di Stefano have never been surpassed as Enrico and Edgardo. THE LUCIA OF THE AGES. I also like Sutherland's earliest live-recording for the sheer perfection.