Verdi: Macbeth (complete opera live 1952) with Maria Callas, Enzo Mascherini, Victor de Sabata, Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala, Milan

Maria Callas (Artist), Enzo Mascherini (Artist), Italo Tajo (Artist), Gino Penno (Artist), Luciano Della Pergola (Artist), Giuseppe Verdi (Composer), Victor De Sabata (Conductor), Orchestra e coro del Teatro alla Scala (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Orchestra e coro del Teatro alla Scala
• Conductor: Victor De Sabata
• Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
• Audio CD (March 17, 1998)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B00000630X
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #144,859 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #22 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Divas > Callas, Maria

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Callas & Lady Macbeth: A Perfect Match, March 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Verdi: Macbeth (complete opera live 1952) with Maria Callas, Enzo Mascherini, Victor de Sabata, Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala, Milan (Audio CD)

This is an opera that EMI should have recorded with Callas in the studio, but it never happened, so we are lucky to have this recording of the 1952 live performance from La Scala. While the sound is boxy, dry, and lacking in range, it remains listenable and the ear quickly adjusts. Callas is an Amazonian Lady Macbeth, and it's a thrill a minute. Her voice, as heard here, is huge, powerful, and completely steady as she spews venom at every turn. The effects achieved by Callas on this performance are easier heard and experienced than discussed. Not surprisingly, the Macbeth of Enzo Mascherini is not on this level, but he manages a creditable performance in a role that should have been cast with Tito Gobbi (the only Macbeth who would have met Callas on equal ground). Victor de Sabata conducts a dramatic and searing performance. For Callas fans, this set is an absolute must.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bone-chilling and Evil, January 25, 2005

By 

The Cultural Observer - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Verdi: Macbeth (complete opera live 1952) with Maria Callas, Enzo Mascherini, Victor de Sabata, Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala, Milan (Audio CD)

When Arturo Toscanini was making plans to conduct a performance of Verdi's Macbeth at La Scala, he had one singer in mind--Maria Meneghini Callas. For more than a hundred years, this Verdi opera was much neglected by hundreds of great artist because of the composer's demands for the voice--choked, evil, not even singing. Of course, with the passing of time, a great artist with the genius of bel canto singing, the ability to color each and every phrase accurately, and with the most powerful stage and dramatic presence, came along the scene. Such a soprano was Maria Callas. Of course, because of her disputes with the damned Antonio Ghirangelli, the head of La Scala at the time, the Toscanini Macbeth never took place. How fortunate we truly are, however, to have Callas sing the role in La Scala a few years later with the great Victor de Sabata conducting. Here, we hear a totally different Callas, an antiheroine bent on achieving her goals without care for moral justice. No other soprano or mezzo for that matter could have captured the Lady Macbeth that Callas poured out on La Scala for the audiences that she mesmerized with her ability to portray such a despicable character. What a brilliant artist she truly was! Her letter scene is undoubtedly the benchmark for any other letter scene read by successive ladies after her career. Her La Luce Langue is simply amazing. Her sleepwalking scene caused only her to gain more legions of fans. Her colleagues weren't too bad either. Enzo Mascherini was evil yet cowardly as Macbeth. Truly a great performance that night. Do not miss out on this recording.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Verdiď¿˝s Lady Macbeth!, July 9, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Verdi: Macbeth (complete opera live 1952) with Maria Callas, Enzo Mascherini, Victor de Sabata, Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala, Milan (Audio CD)

The opera should be called Lady Macbeth when the Lady is Maria Callas! Im not a huge Callas fan since I can never find much beauty in her voice but indisputably this role was written for Maria Callas. It needs a rough, ... sound with much coloratura and powerful both high and lower notes. This is, to me, Callas greatest role! However besides Callas, the less famous Elena Soulioti is also great, even if her studio recording does not represent her Lady well. Back to Callas, it is really sad that the diva never recorded the opera in studio, though she did record the famous aria and caballeta. This is, therefore, the only complete testament we have with Callas in this role and despite the terrible sound its a must.

Macbeth here is Enzo Mascherini who does a fine job but I much prefer others who have recorded the role in studio (Warren, Milnes for example). I also prefer sopranos in the title role, thats why my recommendation for a studio version goes to the RCA: Warren/Rysanek/Bergonzi. Last but not least here, the underrated conductor De Sabata is superb!

Concluding, even though the bad sound should prevent me from giving 5stars, I do give them because of Maria Callas: the definite Lady Macbeth.