Verdi: La Traviata (historic recording: Torino, 1953) [Import, Box set, Live, Original recording remastered]

Maria Callas | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import, Box set, Live, Original recording remastered
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Warner Music
• Run Time: 140 minutes
• ASIN: B002KMD4XQ
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,493,033 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Tracklist:~~CD1)~~1. Prelude~~~2-9. Act One-Scenes 1-5~~~10-19. Act Two-Scenes 1-8~~~~CD2)~~1-7. Act Two-Scenes 9-15~~~8. Prelude-Act Three~~~9-17. Act Three-Scenes 1-7.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Limited sound quality, but a quite splendid performance, October 29, 2010

By 

Rob Pollock - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Verdi: La Traviata [New York -- January 1, 1949: Eleanor Steber, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Robert Merrill; Giuseppe Antonicelli] (Audio CD)

A reviewer in the reliable Penguin Guide to Compact Discs, 2005/6 Edition, said of this Naxos issue, in part:

"Few singers on disc can match Eleanor Steber as Violetta in the historic live recording of La Traviata made at the Met ... on New Year's Day, 1949 ... The beauty and precision as well as the power of Steber's singing are phenomenal ...". Equally high praise is given to Di Stefano and Merrill and to the conductor Antonicelli.

Welcome bonuse tracks of Steber, in rather poorer sound quality than for the opera, include a duet version of 'Will you remember' with Bjoerling.

Listeners will immediately become aware that these are not high fidelity recordings - but, what magnificent singing.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Essential Historic Recording, June 22, 2010

By 

rater25 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Verdi: La Traviata (historic recording: Torino, 1953) (Audio CD)

This is Callas' only studio recording of LA TRAVIATA. She gives a stunning performance of one of the great operatic roles. She is in fine voice and "lives the part". Her colleagues are not on the same level, but are all professional and it adds up to a performance in the genuine Italian style. The sound on this Warner reissue is infinitely superior to any previous incarnation. A must for Callas fans.

PLEASE NOTE: MOST OF THE REVIEWS POSTED FOR THIS ITEM ARE ACTUALLY OF OTHER PERFORMANCES. THE ITEM LISTED HERE IS MARIA CALLAS' ONLY STUDIO RECORDING OF LA TRAVIATA RECENTLY REMASTERED BY WARNER.

9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars INCREDIBLE SURPRISE, November 2, 2007

By 

Gustav Mahler "Gus" (Miami, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Verdi: La Traviata [1953 Studio Recording for Cetra: Maria Callas, Francesco Albanese, Ugo Savarese, Gabriele Santini] (Audio CD)

Highly recommended. This is easily one of Callas' best recordings and one of the half dozen or so best recordings of the opera as well. Her voice was still in prime condition (1953) and all her legendary dramatic instincts firmly in place and functioning at full power. For me at least, it is a rare event when an Italian based recording of an Italian opera contains so much musical merit. Though it does contain many of the standard and unfortunate cuts which plague most recordings, Santini chooses excellent tempos and conducts with true depth, instrumental solos are beautifully executed and projected, Verdi's dynamic (loud-soft) indications visible in the score are, for a change, audibly present, and the chorus actually sounds involved with the proceedings for a change. The rest of the singers are all excellent and committed and the recording as a whole has a high level of polish and overall musical quality that most other recordings lack. The final soprano-tenor duet and the remainder of the work is performed with a rare beauty, insight and level of perfection that is unparalleled in my experience with not only this opera but, unfortunately, most Verdi. It is generally agreed and I certainly am of the opinion that Wagner is without question the greater and more profound composer of the two but being rated second to Wagner is no insult. His "solution" to the creativity problem facing the opera composers of that generation may not be as intellectually potent, far reaching, visionary or multi-facited as Wagner's but it certainly a valid one and possesses far more musical substance, harmonic interest and novelty...etc. than is generally recognized. For instance, in one of his symphonies, I forget which, Mahler weaves in an extended quote from the final act of Aida so seamlessly it normally goes completely unnoticed, whereas his Wagner quotes normally hit you in the face. (The line "Der Lenz ist da" in the fifth song of Das Lied von der Erde is a direct quote from the last act of Parsifal.)

The recorded sound is surprisingly fresh and clean.