Maria Callas - The 1958 Los Angeles Concert / Puccini, Rossini, et al [LIVE]

Arrigo Boito (Composer), Giacomo Puccini (Composer), Gioachino Rossini (Composer), Gaspare Spontini (Composer), Ambroise Thomas (Composer), Giuseppe Verdi (Composer), Nicola Rescigno (Conductor), Maria Callas (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Maria Callas
• Conductor: Nicola Rescigno
• Composer: Arrigo Boito, Giacomo Puccini, Gioachino Rossini, Gaspare Spontini, Ambroise Thomas, et al.
• Audio CD (December 28, 1999)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Video Artists Int'l
• ASIN: B00003GNY2
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #295,468 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
If you've been wondering why now, a quarter-century since she last sang a note in public, people are still obsessing over Maria Callas, this newly unearthed concert from Los Angeles in 1958 will answer your questions. No other soprano before or since would dare such a varied program, and this was her usual concert material. She sings first a prayer from Spontini's La Vestale, all great formality, regal tone, and utterance, and she caps it with a blazing high C--a bit uneven, but thrilling. We next meet her as the evil Lady Macbeth, the tone darker and nastier, with plunges into chest register that continue to surprise. Seemingly to shock us, she next sings Rosina's aria from Il barbiere di Siviglia, all air and light, with pinpoint coloratura and sassy attitude. Could this be the same singer? Only if it's Callas. "L'altra notte" from Boito's Mefistofele is next, and in it, the crazy heroine rants about her dead child. Callas embodies this poor soul, bearing no resemblance to any other heroine she's portrayed so far. Next, Musetta's Waltz--a role Callas never sang--is a nice bauble, but it's been sung better by dozens of other sopranos and so comes across as a sort of interlude. And the finale is the Mad Scene from Thomas's Hamlet, a 10-minute tour de force for high soprano in which Callas lightens her voice and sails through the difficulties as if possessed by Ophelia's spirit. The sound, with the recording obviously taken from within the audience, is not bad of its type; i.e., every note is audible and clear if not quite in balance with the orchestra. This concert is new to Callas lovers and is a must in any opera lover's collection. Buy it. --Robert Levine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE LATEST ADDITION TO CALLAS' RECORDED LEGACY, January 11, 2000

By	Milan Petkovic (Toronto, CANADA) - See all my reviews

This, the most recently unearthed of Callas' live documents, represents the great soprano at the peak of her interpretative mastery. In general, it can be said that her voice sounds closer to that heard on the EMI sessions of two months before than to the Paris concert done twenty days after. The voice was captured relatively far from the microphone; thus, every interpretative detail cannot be heard with the immediacy of a studio recording. Yet if one listens carefully, all details are there. The recorded sound puts a nice complexion on Callas' voice, and her singing is more relaxed and at times more spontaneous than in some of her studio recordings realised in September 1958. Practice - this was the last concert of the 1958 USA and Canada tour organised by Sol Hurok - or contact with a live audience? Probably both.

The VESTALE aria sounds relatively less involved than the rest; it was Callas' usual warm-up piece for the period 1958-59. The final interpolated high C (absent in the studio version of 1955 and in all three concert versions of 1959) is rather tight and slightly shrill; the same note is no more pleasant in the MACBETH recitative (on the first "retrocede"). Otherwise, her top works fine, and less caution is needed for its projection than it would be the case in 1959 (an occasional slight pulsation is present, but is hardly intrusive). At times, the top notes are even more powerful and brilliant than on EMI - the final note in the HAMLET excerpt, for example.

The MACBETH aria, appropriately diabolical and close in spirit to the EMI recording, is vocally infinitely superior to either Hamburg or Stuttgart versions of May 1959 (both disappointing performances of the piece), and far more exciting in result. The BARBIERE aria might sound somewhat subdued in comparison to the Paris version (December 19, 1958, EMI video), but it still a remarkable embodiment of the character's coquettish playfulness and witty charm.

Musetta's Waltz from BOHEME is not the strongest point of this Los Angeles concert. Interpretatively, Callas would be less rigid, more seductive and subtly provocative in this music during the European concert tour of May and June 1963. However, this 1958 version is far more secure from the vocal point of view, and the climactic high B works considerably better for her than it would be later (though still not rock solid as it might have been earlier in her career).

The MEFISTOFELE aria is quite different in approach from either EMI 1954 or London 1959; more sad and plaintive, with less emphasis on the chest notes. The cadenzas and the diminuendo on the final B are simply stunning; the psychological effect of those purely vocal sections of an essentially dramatic aria is amazing. Unforgettable once heard, and incomparable.

The HAMLET excerpt in particular sounds more spontaneous and relaxed than on EMI, and Callas' inventive playing with rhythm in florid passages is very becoming. Interestingly, not a single memory lapse in her French. Elsewhere, she seems to have memorised the text remarkably well (some usual little slips in the VESTALE aria notwithstanding), her mind firmly focused on both musical and dramatic interpretation. The interpretative details would have been in greater evidence had the voice been given more presence on this recording, with each consonant clearly audible (which, unfortunately, was not the case). Still, there seems to be no valid reason to complain about the sound of this in-house tape.

The leaflet notes written by John Ardoin present statistical and historical facts about the concert, the Hurok tour, and Callas' usual choices for her recital programs during the 1950s. No detailed review or comparative analysis in terms of interpretation is given, having probably been kept for the future edition or update of the author's remarkable and famous book "The Callas Legacy" (the latest edition dates from 1995). The orchestra conducted by Nicola Rescigno has been left without credit on this CD edition.

All in all, a highly enjoyable recording - which few will dispute - and an excellent musical signature by Maria Callas as an exceptionally gifted and insightful concert performer. Yet I would hesitate to call it "a major addition to Callas' recorded legacy". Callas' recorded versions of these six arias are quite numerous: eight (BARBIERE), seven (VESTALE), six (BOHEME), five (MACBETH), four (HAMLET), three and a half (MEFISTOFELE), while several of her important stage incarnations (FEDORA, TRISTAN UND ISOLDE, DON CARLO, MEFISTOFELE, FIDELIO) have either never been recorded or are yet to see the light.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AWESOME WORK FROM CALLAS!, December 31, 1999

By	"lesismore26" (Chicago, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews

At last, the release of the famous Callas concert in Los Angeles on November 29, 1958, an occasion that found her in outstanding voice. It is hard to believe that Callas was on the eve of the overwhelming vocal problems that forced her into early retirement in 1965, because there is virtually no evidence of it here. With the exception of Musetta's Waltz from "La Boheme", Callas had already made studio recordings of all the arias and scenes presented here ---- but these live performances surpass them all. The voice is in perfect balance with the musical and dramatic instincts, and in Callas' particular case, this adds up to something extraordinary, with a myriad of vocal colors layered onto razor-sharp characterizations. For those who claim that Callas was the greatest operatic practitioner of the twentieth century, this CD would serve as strong support for that claim. For those who do not, this disc may well prove to be a revelation. Be that as it may, the sad fact remains that at the time of this concert, Maria Callas was days away from her 35th birthday ------- and her life's work was already nearing an end. This recording is an invaluable document.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yet more of the Callas legacy, September 28, 2001

By	klavierspiel "klavierspiel" (TX, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

A quarter century after her death, previously unavailable recorded material by Maria Callas continues to surface. The present recording, taken live from one of the concerts on her American tour of the late 1950s, duplicates material available elsewhere. For example, the first three items were also sung by Callas at her Hamburg concert of 1959, which was televised and which has been transferred to VHS and DVD. The Mad Scene from Thomas' "Hamlet" is on her 1959 EMI recording.

One year earlier than the above performances, Callas' voice is in good shape, with only a few of her trademark flaws. She tries a rather unsteady high C at the end of the Vestale aria that she wisely omitted in later performances. Musetta's Waltz is a chestnut that tends to expose her weaknesses, in particular a lack of ability to project light, flirtatious charm when it's not written into the music, as it is in the case of Rossini. The intensely sung Mefistofele aria is perhaps the gem of this collection. The sound on this issue is necessarily more primitive than a recording made under more controlled conditions.

On the whole, this concert is a worthy representation of Callas and it is good to have it available. On the other hand, because of the sound and the availability of duplicate performances of these particular numbers, it's probably not the best choice as an introduction to her art.