Customer Reviews

Verdi: Aida

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Maria Callas wasn't a natural Aida, as were sopranos like Zinka Milanov or Leontyne Price, whose perfectly placed Verdian voices were ideal for this role (their respective recordings of this opera are, of course, exemplary). But Callas had such a unique and compelling vocal personality, that she brought to Aida a quality that can be heard from no other soprano. Her voice on this recording, while not as firm and secure as it still could be in 1955 (the year of this recording), was capable of some amazing things.Her singing in the Act I trio is powerful and authorative; her "Ritorna Vincitor" has the thrust of steel and iron. Her "O Patria Mia" sounds beautiful until she goes for the climatic high C, which wobbles under pressure. This leads her right into the father-daughter duet with Tito Gobbi, in which together both singers produce a stretch of singing which bursts with pathos and drama. I've never heard this scene done better by anyone. The Callas-Gobbi combination (most notable in "Tosca") works its usual miracles here.Richard Tucker's Rhademes is unsubtle, a little staid, but certainly well sung. Fedora Barbieri's powerful and booming mezzo is wonderfully appropriate for Amneris, and she is a good foil for Callas in the Aida-Amneris interview scene.Tullio Serafin conducts the La Scala orchestra and chorus with authority and a good sense of drama, especially in the Nile Scene as well as the Judgement Scene. While I wouldn't make this my only "Aida" recording, I certainly wouldn't want to be without it.

SOURCE: Studio production made on August 10-12, 16-20 and 23-24, 1955 at Teatro alla Scala, Milan and issued on the Columbia label.

SOUND: Pretty good mid-1950s studio recording, although probably not of leading edge quality even on the day it was laid down. Nevertheless, this "Aida" sounds better than many of Callas' complete opera recordings, some of which sound just plain awful. By digital standards, the recorded range is relatively narrow and a bit boxy, but the voices are nicely captured and given prominence over the orchestra, as was the fashion of the time. Overall, I think the sound should be satisfactory to all but narrow-minded audiophiles.

CAST: Aida, an Ethiopian slave to Amneris - Maria Callas (soprano); Radames, a captain of the royal guard destined for higher things - Richard Tucker (tenor); Amneris, the daughter of Pharaoh - Fedora Barbieri (mezzo-soprano); Amonasro, the warrior King of Ethiopia - Tito Gobbi (baritone); Ramfis, the High Priest - Giuseppe Modesti (bass); King of Egypt - Nicola Zaccaria (bass); a messenger - Franco Ricciardi (tenor); a priestess - Elvira Galassi (soprano). CONDUCTOR: Tullio Serafin with the Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala in Milan.

COMMENTARY: Verdi's "Aida" can be approached as an intimate drama with elements of spectacle or as a spectacle with intimate moments. While Serafin gives nice play to the circus to be found in the middle of the opera, his real attention is directed toward the words, thoughts and interactions of the slave, the young general, the princess and the warrior-king. In spectacle-oriented performances, such as those led by Solti and Mehta, Ramphis, the High Priest, is a leading figure in the drama, for he embodies the official position of the Egyptian state so spectacularly on display. Here, he is a secondary character, not so much because Giuseppe Modesti was a lesser singer than Callas, Tucker, Barbieri or Gobbi, but because Ramphis is exterior to the dramatic core of the opera as Serafin--and indeed the old Italian tradition, saw it.

Tullio Serafin embodied the mainline of Italian tradition in performing operas. For those accustomed to the current international style, Serafin can be a shock. His manner may even seem deplorable. He did not care a fig about the present day fetish of textual completeness. His concern was with dramatic effectiveness. He was not a living metronome. His tempi are amazingly flexible (his critics would say downright loose) by current standards, but always with a dramatic purpose. He was not a drill master. He accepted a little raggedness in the chorus or less than perfect intonation from the orchestra in pursuit of phrasings and emphases that prove to be profoundly right, time after time.

Maria Callas was not a naturally-born Aida. For the sheer, glorious, creamy tone many fans expect from an Aida, you must go to Zinka Milanov, Renata Tebaldi or even Leontyne Price. Callas sang Aida in the early part of her career. A pirate recording from Mexico City captures her in full whoop-ti-do mode with all the long-held notes and flights to stratospheric heights that her fans adored, but at which Verdi would have snarled. She made her debut at La Scala as Aida (with no great success), filling in for an ailing Tebaldi. She stopped singing the role on stage in 1953. When this recording was made in 1955, she was no longer so brilliant a songbird, but she was a vastly superior singing actress. In sound, she is good, even very good--but no more than that. In expressing the fleeting thoughts, the bounding emotions, the very soul of Aida the slave girl, she is unsurpassed.

Much to my surprise, I can't find anything to suggest that the apparently natural onstage pairing of Tito Gobbi and Maria Callas in "Aida" ever took place. There were baritones with better voices, but there were no better singing actors in the Twentieth Century. I saw him only once, at the tag end of his career, when his tattered voice was sometimes painful to hear. Despite that, he gave the best performance of Nabucco I ever saw or expect to see. His Amonasro sets the mark against which all his successors must be measured.

Fedora Barbieri was one of a handful of phenomenal Italian mezzo-sopranos who set the standards for the last century. Her Amneris is a textbook on the Italian style.

Richard Tucker can be criticized for his technique, especially intonation, his unique (to say the least) pronunciation of Italian, for his straight-ahead persona, but all that is irrelevant. When the man sings, he gets the job done. I am an absolute Tucker fan. For all his faults, it's a pleasure to listen to a truly heroic-sounding tenor who also manages to fit in quite comfortably with Serafin's concept of the opera.

This is a fine, historic performance that showcases a fading tradition. The four principal singers were larger than life then, more than fifty years ago, and they remain so today.

Five stars.

For quite some time, I had tried to avoid this recording of Aida, mainly because I knew that Callas had sung the role too late in the studio. I usually went for her Mexico performance, and then recently I decided to give this a try. The truth is, Callas' voice in the mid 50's wasn't the same hurricane force that took the world by surprise in the earlier stages of her career. But you know what? I think, of all the Aidas published on record, only this and Caballe's recording with Domingo and Muti cut it for the greatest Aidas.

I mainly think this because above all the other artists who have sung the role of the princess, Maria Callas and Caballe are the only ones who can explore the sensitivities of the role. Every emotional inflection is bared out in this recording. You can hear Aida's agony...and this certainly is without a doubt a must for any Verdian soprano who sings the role. I can't stand Leontyne Price's divaesque handling of the role, nor can I bear Tebaldi's detached singing. Callas' Ritorna Vincitor is almost a recitative, even in the most lyric parts. Her duets with Barbieri, whom I think is a supreme Amneris, are certainly one of the highlights of this set. To further stipulate this, Gobbi and Callas make the most excellent Amonasro and Aida couple. Richard Tucker, albeit the weight of his voice, gives a complete Radames. It isn't in the rank of del Monaco, Corelli, or Domingo, but I certainly prefer it over Vickers!

Serafin conducts this opera well and sensitively from beginning to end, and gives it a most Italianate treatment absent from Solti's or Karajan's recording. Definitely a winner!

This Aida is very interesting,but not the (vocally) best studio-recording.In 1955 Callas'voice was not in best shape,some high notes have no splendour.But despite some vocal flaws Callas is still a very great Aida.The beginning of "Ritorna vincitor" is fantastic,no other singer has so many vocal colours for Verdi's recitativos,no other singer has the ability to give every note drammatical sense.
The highlight of this recording is the scene between Aida-Amonasro.Tito Gobbi and Maria Callas are incredibly expressive here. Callas has one of her unforgettable moments with the phrase "o patria,quanto mi costi".In my opinion such details are much more important than some sweet high notes.
If you prefer a vocally perfect studio-recording buy Leontine Prices` Aida.
The most drammatical Aida is the 1951 live-recording with Callas and Del Monaco from Mexico City.I recommend this recording to everyone who is still claiming that Callas was no vocal wonder.

I must say that this recording came as quite a dissapointment while listening. I believe more and more that this opera found its best reproduction later in the history of recorded music. I have listened to the famous recording of Muti and the impressive version of Mehta and I must say that they are better in almost every aspect.

First of all Serafin doesn't put the energy and drama that makes this opera so great. You won't find the keen and acute vision seen in his Rigoletto and Norma both with Callas. But he is not the worst.

The worst is for me Tucker. He is weak both as voice and dramatic production. His character sounds like an unimportant servant of egyptian aristrocracy and not the young lion meant to save the great civilization. When you have Domingo in Muti's and above all Corelli in Mehta's recordings you expect so much more and he just isn't able to give it to you. Corelli is the Radames by all means and probably this comparison makes me see Tucker so inapproriate innthis recording.

Fedora Barbieri is no match for Callas. She seems to be in not the best shape and both Amneris parts in above mentioned recordings are much more impressive and on the spot than this.

Callas and Gobbi are (again) a couple that has to be heard to be believed. The sense of drama and of music each of them and they as a duo have is not yet unsurpassed at least on disc. And they are the reward you get for your money from else a pretty weak recording. And you wouldn't expect that when you read the names of the cast and the conductor. Yet it is no match for the two mentioned recordings to say at least (the catalogue is quite generous with worthy Aidas, for all tastes).

I am really sorry for I am a Callas, Gobbi, Serafin fan but this is not their best achievement. By no means.

Period! Compared to this dramatic, colourful portrayals all other Aidas have shortcomings. Callas sings with authority, noble pride, touching vulnerability and almost inhuman brilliance. Her Aida is a human being, a proud princess, a loving woman... She is everything, everything that Aida is about can be heard in her voice! Partnered by the EXQUISITE Tito Gobbi (The best Amonasro on records, compared to him Milnes&Co sound boring) she makes magic in the nile-scene! And Richard Tucker who sings a heroic, human Radames, not a roaring stentor!!! You need the best Aida? Buy Callas!!!! And then try Price, but Callas still rules!

I'm a classical soprano studying many of Callas' roles. Let me tell you that it is THIS recording most used to show us youngster how AIDA must be sung, not some dull pianissimo vocalise or blabla. Aida must be exciting. And as for this Californian's shabby language, I complained to Amazon.

Callas is a very good Aida, but the role relly goes to Leontyn Price. This recording is well interpreted and the orchestra does a really good job, Tulio Serafin's conducting is very crisp and always at the right tempi. Callas's voice is very good at times such as in "O patria Mia" but not at "Ritorna Vincitor". Richard Tucker's voice is very good but his Pronunciation is not always Italian. The rest of the cast is well perfomed and the orchestra playing is clean. My only problem, is that you can hear a little bit of fuzz and the three Egyptian trumpets are not very clear. The recording is on MONO not stereo, and the sound quality is not always good. They never had stereo technology back then so that explains why it is MONO, the recording is from 1956. This recording is pretty good but I would choose the Solti with Price.

I can only laugh at this stupid insulting person from California whose reviews are grossly against all guidelines of Amazon. Callas is in stupendous form here except for that one high C, which is SO hard to do. But what is one high note if the rest is sung to perfection? Callas, Tucker and especially Gobbi shine. Caballe and Milanov both are SO dull as Aida, they make me fall asleep. Price is a VERY good Aida though even though her voice sounded much smaller and thinner live.

This recording was recorded too late (1955) IMHO. Callas' greatest (What a VOICE!) moment here is the GLORIOUS duet with Amonasro (The fabulous Tito Gobbi). Yes, the high Cs aren't floating like Caballe's or Milanov's.....BUT: The magnificent colouring and form of EVERY phrase (What a technique!), the intelligent use of shades and darkness, the wonderful pacing and style.... If you want to listen to Callas RULING as Aida vocally, listen to the live-recording from Mexico with del Monaco. (1951, Myto or Melodram) If you want to listen to the most exquisite, most intelligent portrait of Aida, listen to this one. Or, like me, GET BOTH! You won't regret it!