Customer Reviews

Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor

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On this page you can download two nice tracks to see if the sound-quality is good enough for you, I suggest to listen to those first. ;-) In any case this Lucia from 1952 marks the rebirth of Lucia as redeemed from chirpers like Pons and Robin who had turned it into a "Listen to my hiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh notes" fest. Lucia being a DARK and dramatic character despite her innocence and her really over the top naiveté it's a character that fits Callas like a glove. Her "Regnava nel silenzio" tears off all facades of Lucia's character, here her weak mental health is clearly shown and how Callas sings it and the cabaletta afterwards! Incredible colours in the cantabile, amazing fireworks and acuti in the cabaletta. The dialogue with Enrico is spine-chilling, the madscene unsurpassable in its vocal magnitude, virtuosic bel canto and colours. To see how BEAUTIFUL young Callas could sound listen to her singing "Verranno a te..." with di Stefano as Edgardo. This Lucia is the best ever made available. Do not miss it at all costs!!!!

How underrated this performance is!!!!!! The greatest Lucia ever recorded! I'm very happy with this performance and you'll be too! Just AMAZING!

In this performance from 1952 Callas sang her first Lucia. Reminding one of the days where Melba sang Lucia she guides this opera back into the tradition of a dramatic soprano d'agilita. (Before chirpers had had belittled and nearly tweeted this dramatic heroine to death) She made it possible for Sutherland, another dramatic soprano d'agilita, to sing Lucia because SHE reclaimed the part for the right voice-category. To describe her singing shortly: FLAWLESS, BEAUTIFUL AND NEVER EQUALLED. No wobbles, rock-solid high notes, mind-boggling coloratura, GORGEOUS timbre (How BEAUTIFUL young Maria sounded) and that touch of melancholy you'll hear from NO other Lucia. She SOUNDS mad in the madscene where others merely show off with their technique. (Sills being the exception) She is the only soprano who manges to combine BEAUTY with MADNESS. (Something not even she was able to repeat to 100% in the performances that followed) Di Stefano sounds incredible as Edgardo (IMHO Much better and more dramatic than for example Pavarotti)!! The sound is ok, the conducting not as great as Serafin's or von Karajan's but better than most others. A MILESTONE OF A LUCIA. A MUST FOR EVERY OPERALOVER!

Even this early in Callas' career she new what the music was about. Listen to the endless coloration in the act two scene one duet with Lucia's brother. This performance on a whole is very provincial and very exciting. It is hard to listen to others who have recorded this opera. You can listen to this Lucia a hundred times and still find something new. di Stefano too makes other tenors who sang this role sound boring. What passion, what opera!

I got this Lucia yesterday! Finally!!!!!! After this magnificent Lucia I cannot listen to any other Lucia anymore, not even Sutherland! I'm a new Callas-Fan! So glad I bought this! Finally I understood why all opera-experts adore this woman!

I have listened to many versions of Lucia di Lammermoor (including non Callas performances) and Callas still delivers the best performance for the role of Lucia. This 1952 version shows the la Divina in top of her prime. Hearing that flat e rising just makes me thank God for giving Callas to the world. The only thing I do not like in this cd package is that there is no Lyric sheet. As a non italian this is important for me. Its a good thing I have all the versions of Lucia di Lammermoor of Callas . Both EMI complete versions offer the lyric sheet.
But despite this fact one should never let this version pass.

Callas is the best yet to portray Lucia. Only she can send shivers up one's spine as she conquors the most difficult arias a Soprano can tackle.

It's almost perverse how many items of opera (and symphony)are available in the downtown Burton-Barr library
in Phoenix. There is not a comparable collection , even in Calif. or Oregon! That being said you won't find
this performance there, or it's stable-mate , Rigoletto" there and that is no big deal, because both of these
stellar performances are available here at Amazon ,and they are in a class completely apart from any
recorded Opera I have ever heard. In fact, I was really not at all interested in Opera until the day I aqquired
Rigoletto ( with the same cast and conductor) also recorded in 1952. From about 3 minutes into the performance
and with the start of "Questa o quella" my past musical training and 40+ years listening odyssey realized
I was listening to something very special and it was obvious that DiStefano was out to prove something.
The competition had begun! There are many ways to interprete Rigoletto" and there are at least 60 recordings
available now, but this" performance, to my ears, was all DiStefano and the audience adored him.Everyone, I
think, who will purchase OperaOro Rigoletto will be the better for it. There really is no substitute and the same
can be said for THIS Lucia Di Lammermoor.I felt like the best way I could be fair about these two performances
was to make acknowldgement of the one that is so very under-appreciated but still shines so very bright and
you music lover's will appreciate Opera, not just as a musical event , but as an athletic event as well! Musical
survival of the fittest and glory of glories all of the lead roles were able to come up to that higher bar that
DiStefano foisted upon them. Get this recording because it is Callas answer to DiStefano in Rigoletto" She would
not be outsung, but after you hear Rigoletto you will know what her inspiration was . These 2 performances were
both completed within 2 weeks of each other. How Callas and DiStefano went on to make may other great recordings for another 10+ years is not something I am aware of , but I am curious, to know how . People who are wondering
what hit them after hearing this recording can go to youtube for more great examples of Callas and DiStefano
they were the most electrifying performers of the 50's and Callas can be considered the Elvis of Opera.(They passed from this sphere a mere 30 days apart in 1977.)
Going into shock? Watch her on Youtube, she will be remembered and listened to 100 years from now, and DiStefano should be too!

I know, I know--it is Maria. However, the production has been hacked up so much that is is like half of the opera. As well, the background noises are very off-putting. During the famous "mad scene" one can hear what sounds like a man singing as well. I was quite disappointed in this CD and would not recommend it to anyone but the most rabid Callas fan.

This one beats all the other "famous" Lucias easily. A live-recording of incredible magnitude! Brava La Divina!