Medea

Cherubini (Artist), Maria Callas (Artist), Scotto (Artist), Pirazzini (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 17, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B00000630T
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #415,542 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #27 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Divas > Scotto, Renata
  • #61 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Divas > Callas, Maria

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Medea: Sinfonia (Orchestra)

2. Medea: Act I, Scene 1: Che? Quando gia corona Amor (Ancelle, Coro, Glauce)

3. Medea: Act I, Scene 1: O Amore, vieni a me! (Glauce)

4. Medea: Act I, Scene 1: No, non temer (Creonte, Glauce, Giasone)

5. Medea: Act I, Scene 1: O bella glauce (Coro, Glauce)

6. Medea: Act I, Scene 1: Colco! Pensier fatal! (Glauce, Giasone, Creonte)

7. Medea: Act I, Scene 1: Or che piu non vedro (Giasone)

8. Medea: Act I, Scene 1: Ah, gia troppo turbo (Creonte)

9. Medea: Act I, Scene 1: Pronube dive (Creonte, Coro, Glauce, Giasone)

10. Medea: Act I, Scene 1: Signor! Ferma una donna (Capo delle guardi, Creonte, Medea, Giasone, Glauce, Coro)

See all 15 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Medea: Act II: Introduzione (Orchestra)

2. Medea: Act II: Soffrir non posso (Medea, Neris, Creonte)

3. Medea: Act II: Date almen per pieta (Medea, Creonte, Neris, Coro)

4. Medea: Act II: Medea, o Medea!

5. Medea: Act II: Solo un pianto con te versare (Neris)

6. Medea: Act II: Creonte a me solo un giorno da? (Medea, Neris, Giasone)

7. Medea: Act II: Figli miei, miei tesor (Medea, Giasone)

8. Medea: Act II: Hai dato pronto ascolto (Medea, Neris)

9. Medea: Act II: Ah! Triste canto!... Dio dell'Amor! (Medea, Coro, Creonte, Glauce, Giasone)

10. Medea: Act III: Introduzione (Orchestra)

See all 14 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Overwhelming, May 5, 1999

By 

[e-mail] - See all my reviews

This review is from: Medea (Audio CD)

This is one of Callas' most famous roles. Callas was born to play monumentally tragic, misunderstood characters such as the mythical Medea who was driven to such depths of despair by her husband's betrayal that she killed their joint children just to punish him. I do not imply any naive emotional parallels to Callas' own tragic and misunderstood life, but the strength of Callas' characterization of Medea in this opera is certainly remarkable. There are some surviving movie clips of Callas performing arias from Medea on stage. The effect of the soprano, one moment standing there dressed in a regular recital attire, and in another moment with the first bars of music suddently transforming herself into an ancient Greek woman possessed by fury and despondency, is indescribable.

P.S. There is another Medea - or rather Medee - a French baroque opera starring Lorraine Hunt, which features performances as fiery as this one, but whose music is perhaps of a higher order. Check it out.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this set, November 21, 2002

By 

Mr. Jeffrey Belcher "Sam" (Melbourne, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Medea (Audio CD)

I love this set although you don't seem to have to look far to find plenty of people who rabbit on about this not being one of Callas's best studio recordings or best recordings of Medea. Pooh! I say, I reckon someone said that once & everyone's just jumped on the band wagon.

It is 1957, Callas's voice is great, very clean, her phrasing is as amazing as ever, diction terrific - not one missing consonant. The stereo sound captures the strings, the orchestra, the chorus terrifically - I love the overture to this opera, It always gives me goosebumps, and I defy anyone to listen to the final "E che? Io son Medea!" and not be thrilled.

Ok, there can be something extra special about Callas recorded live but that doesn't stop this from being a really enjoyable studio set & nicely free from all the extraneous noises that live versions invariably include.

Unfortunately, at the moment, it can be difficult to find a copy as it is one of the very few studio recordings of Callas not owned by EMI although it has been issued on their label under licence in 1990 & 1997. BMG (originally Ricordi) now have the copyright and have declined EMI's request to extend the licence. Apparently, BMG have said they wish to release a version themselves. This is some time ago and they have not delivered. (This information is courtesy of an email from EMI when I queried why it was missing from their current catalogue.)

I bought a 2nd hand set & it is great. If you can find one I recommend you do too.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WARNING about MARKETPLACE copies!, October 9, 2005

By 

MW (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Medea (Audio CD)

Some Marketplace sellers list the earlier release (B000002S21) of this recording which includes Beethoven's "Ah! perfido". They should not list it here because there is a significant difference in the quality of the sound. The edition that Amazon itself advertises is a quite a bit cleaner.