Customer Reviews

Maria Callas: The Final Production of Medea / Schippers (1961)

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By 1961, Callas' voice was well beyond its zenith. Nevertheless, the musicality and drama she brings to this particular role have never been equaled. One should listen to earlier recorded performances of Callas as MEDEA (especially at La Scala in December 1953 with Bernstein conducting) for the real effect. However, this series of 1961-2 MEDEAs was Callas' last appearance in the role and at La Scala, so it is of historical significance. As indicated, Callas' voice is here unsteady and opaque. The rest of the cast is fine, and Schippers conducts with a certain flair, given that this version is, as always, only about 60% Cherubini, with anachronistic recitatives by Franz Lachner added in the 1850s to replace the original spoken dialog, and many cuts of the original 1797 music; the edition Callas and her conductors used were always a mess. The problem with every published version of this recording is that it starts roughly at correct pitch and imperceptibly drops for the first forty minutes, so that by the time Callas enters, it is a big semi-tone flat for the rest of the opera, making an already wobbly Callas sound even worse. This is true of the original tape: apparently whoever recorded it off the air had a tape recorder that sped up as it warmed up, so played on accurate equipment, it gets very flat. That no one has noticed this from the time of its first official LP issuance on Fonit-Cetra, is astounding beyond words, and makes for a useless distortion of an important document.

"An interpretation which is probably one of the most astounding achievements ever in the field of operatic performance. Callas was more astonishing than ever" French critic, Jaques Bourgeois