01 Meyerbeer L'Africana - O Paradiso (Gigli)
02 Mozart Il Ratto Dal Serraglio - Yutte le torture (Callas)
03 Massenet Werther - Ah! Non mi ridestar (Gigli)
04 Meyerbeer Dinorah - Ahime! che notte oscura.. Ombra leggiera (Callas)
05 Cilea L'Arlesiana - E la solita storia (Gigli)
06 Massenet Louise - Depuis le jour (Callas)
07 Giodano Andrea Chenier - Un di all' azzurro spazio (Gigli)
08 Rossini Arminda - D' amore al dolce impero (Callas)

Maria Calas – Soprano
Beniamino Gigli – Tenor
Covent Garden Chorus ; Coro del Teatro alla Scala
Orchestra di Milano della Rai
Alfredo Simonetto - conductor 
Covent Garden Orchestra
Nicola Rescigno – conductor
Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala
Antonio Votto, Carlo Maria Giulini - conductors 
Sinfonie Orchester des Norddeutschen Rundfunks Musikhalle
Georges Prêtre - conductor

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Disc 1:

1. Don Giovanni K527: Non mi dir (take I)	
2. Don Giovanni K527 (1997 Digital Remaster): Non mi dir (take II)
3. Macbeth (1997 Digital Remaster): Una macchia è qui tuttora! (Atto IV)
4. Semiramide (1997 Digital Remaster): Bel raggio lusinghier.
5. I vespri Siciliani (1997 Digital Remaster): Arrigo! Ah, parli a un core (Atto IV)
6. Lucrezia Borgia: Tranquillo di posa...Com'è bello
7. Guglielmo Tell (1997 Digital Remaster): S'allontanano alfine ... Selva opaca (Act 2)
8. Semiramide (1997 Digital Remaster): Bel raggio lusinghier
9. Il Pirata (1997 Digital Remaster): Sorgete ... Lo sognai ferito, esangue (Act 1)

Disc 2:

1. Don Carlo (1997 Digital Remaster): O don fatale	
2. La Cenerentola (1997 Digital Remaster): Nacqui all'affanno e al pianto.....Non più mesta
3. Oberon (1997 Digital Remaster): Ocean! thou mighty monster (Act 2)
4. Aida (1997 Digital Remaster): Pur ti riveggo, mia dolce Aida (Act 3)
5. I Lombardi alla prima crociata (1997 Digital Remaster): Te, Vergin santa
6. Il Trovatore (1997 Digital Remaster): Vanne ... D'amor sull' ali rosee (Act 4)
7. I vespri Siciliani (1997 Digital Remaster): Arrigo! Ah, parli a un core (Atto IV)
8. Attila (1997 Digital Remaster): Liberamente or piangi ... Oh! nel fuggente nuvolo (Atto I) 9. I Lombardi alla prima crociata: Te, Vergin santa

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra
Tullio Serafin – conductor

London Philharmonia Orchestra
Nicola Rescigno – conductor
Antonio Tonini – conductor

Paris National Opera Theater Orchestra
Georges Pretre – conductor

Orchestre de la Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire
Nicola Rescigno – conductor

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01. Richard Wagner - Tristan und Isold; Liebestod - Dolce e calmo (Act III) [07:48.15]
02. Vincenzo Bellini - Norma (Romani) - Casta Diva (Act I) [06:55.01]
03. Vincenzo Bellini - Norma (Romani) - Ah! bello a me ritorna (Act I) [02:17.71]
04. Vincenzo Bellini - I Puritani (Pepoli) - O, rendetemi la speme (Act II) [01:08.11]
05. Vincenzo Bellini - I Puritani (Pepoli) - Qui la voce sua soave (Act II) [03:45.04]
06. Vincenzo Bellini - I Puritani (Pepoli) - Vien, diletto, θ in ciel la luna (Act II) [02:29.20]

Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della RAI
Arturio Basile – conductor

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Disc 1
01. Norma Casta Diva
02. La Sonnambula Compagne, temiri amici ....Come per me sereno
03. Il Barbiere di Siviglia Una voce poco fa
04. Lucia di Lammermoor, '(The) Bride of Lammermoor'
Regnava nel silenzio .... Quando, rapito in estasi
05. Rigoletto Act 1 Scene 2 Gualtier Maldè ...Caro nome
06. La Traviata E strano!!.... Ah, fors' è lui ... Sempre libera
07. La Bohème Sì. Mi chiamano Mimì
08. La Bohème Donde lieta uscì (Mimì's Farewell)
09. Madama Butterfly Lib. Giacosa and Illica Un bel dì vedremo
10. Tosca ACT 2 Vissi d'arte
11. Turandot In questa Reggia
12. La Wally Ebben?...Ne andrò lontana
13. Andrea Chenier La mamma morta

Disc 2
01. Orphée et Eurydice J'ai perdu mon Eurydice
02. Alceste Divinités du Styx
03. Dinorah, '(Le) pardon de Ploërmel' Ombre légère (Shadow Song)
04. Roméo et Juliette, 'Romeo and Juliet' Je veux vivre (Waltz)
05. Faust Les grand seigneurs...Ah! je ris (Jewel Song)
06. Lakmé Où va la jeune indoue (Bell Song)
07. Samson et Dalila Printemps qui commence
08. Samson et Dalila Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix.
09. Les Pêcheurs de Perles, 'The Pearl Fishers' Ma voila seule...Comme autrefois
10. Carmen Act 1 ( L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (Habanera)
11. Carmen Act 2 ( Chanson bohème: les tringles des sistres tintaient
12. Le Cid De cet affreux combat....Pleurez, mes yeux
13. Manon Je ne suis que faiblesse....Adieu, notre petite table
14. Louise Depuis le jour où je me suis donnée

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01.Vissi d'arte [Giacomo Puccini - Tosca, Act II]                       play
02.Una voce poco fa [Gioachino Rossini - Il barbiere di Siviglia, Act I]
03.Casta diva [Vincenzo Bellini - Norma, Act I]
04.Un bel di vedremo [Giacomo Puccini - Madama butterfly, Act II]      play
05.Sì. Mi chiamano Mimì [Giacomo Puccini - La bohème, Act I]            
06.L'altra notte in fondo al mare [Arrigo Boito - Mefistofele, Act II]
07.Una macchia è qui tuttora [Giuseppe Verdi - Macbeth, Act IV]
08.Oh! s'io potessi dissipar le nubi [Vincenzo Bellini - Il Pirata, Act II]

London Symphony Orchestra
Nicola Rescigno – conductor

The sound really gets in the way on this disc. In fact, it is terrible. Still, it is worth listening as hard as you can in order to take in Callas' truly nightmarish Sleepwalking Scene from Macbeth. Puccini was only infrequently included in her recital programs; here we have her Tosca, Mimì, and Butterfly, and Callas sounds a little uncomfortable in the last of these. Even "Casta diva" no longer sounds as secure as it did previously. Callas' vocal difficulties, including wobbling high notes, became more troublesome as the 1950s progressed, and there is ample evidence of them here. Still, in the scenes from Macbeth, Mefistofele, and Il pirata ("Oh! s'io potessi dissipar le nubi") we hear how Callas' ability to realize a role's dramatic potential fully became more powerful, the more that the voice itself was compromised.

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1. Spontini: LA VESTALE - Tu che invoco
2. Verdi: MACBETH - Nel dì della vittoria... Vieni, t'affretta
3. Rossini: IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA - Una voce poco fa
4. Boïto: MEFISTOFELE - L'altra notte
5. Puccini: LA BOHÈME - Quando m'en vo'
6. Thomas: HAMLET - A vos jeux (Mad scene)

Maria Callas, soprano
Nicola Rescigno, conductor

Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles
November 29, 1958

This recently released recording is of Maria Callas' 1958 concert in Los Angeles, from her first U.S. tour. Despite the technical limitations of live recordings of the day (and this one is very limited, having been made on a portable recorder from the audience), this one is sure to impress. It is amazing how the sheer power of Callas' voice carries, without amplification, over the orchestra. She never overpowers. Rather, she is always expressive and musical.

The beauty of her performance and the depth of her range saves LOS ANGELES CONCERT from being of merely archival interest. She moves with grace from a heady excerpt from Verdi's 'Macbeth' to the lighter fare of Rossini. The unaccompanied passages in "Una voce poco fa," from 'The Barber of Seville' are worth the purchase alone. This CD shows Callas at the height of her ability. The somewhat low-fi recording doesn't detract from this in the least. In fact, it will only make you wish you could have been at the performance. ---Rovi

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1. Gaetano Donizetti  - Anna Bolena
    Piangete voi?...Al dolce guidami castel nation

2. Ambroise Thomas  - Hamlet
    A vos jeux mes amis (Mad Scene)

3. Vincenzo Bellini  - Il Pirata
    Oh! s'io potessi

Philharmonia Orchestra
Nicola Rescigno – conductor

Mad scenes in opera go back almost to the genre's invention; for composers concerned with realism, madness was a logical excuse for characters to break into florid song. The early 19th century, however, was the heyday of the mad scene, with bel canto heroines inevitably losing their minds and executing dizzying flights of coloratura. Maria Callas's collection of three such scenes bypasses the most famous--Donizetti's 'Lucia'--in favor of that composer's 'Anna Bolena,' Imogene in Bellini's 'Il Pirata,' and Ophelia from Thomas's 'Hamlet.' Callas never made complete studio recordings of these roles, though live portrayals of the Donizetti and Bellini are available.

This is more than just a collection of opera highlights; each scene is an extended dramatic tableau in which Callas enacts a series of shifting moods as a tragic situation unfurls. They are more, too, than simple representations of madness, as Anna, for example, goes from insanity to calm acceptance of fate, back to hallucination, and finally to righteous anger. Callas imbues these roles with her unique dramatic power, and she is in excellent voice as well; this is as technically fluent and dazzling a recording as she ever made. Though Anna, Ophelia, and Imogene may be mad and defeated, Callas emerges triumphant. ---arkivmusic.com

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01 Madama Butterfly - Un Bel Di Vedremo
02 Carmen - Habanera L'amour Est Un Oiseau Rebelle
03 La Wally - Ebben Ne Andro' Lontrana (sorry, 192kbits)
04 Il Barbiere Di Siviglia - Una Voce Poco Fa
05 Norma - Casta Diva
06 Samson Et Dalila - Mon Coeur S'ouvre A Ta Voix
07 Rigoletto - Caro Nome
08 La Traviata - Sempre Libera
09 La Boheme - Si', Mi Chiamano Mimi (sorry, 192kbits)
10 Don Giovanni - Mi Tradi' Quell'anima Ingrata (sorry, 192kbits)
11 Cavalleria Rusticana - Voi Lo Sapete, O Mamma
12 La Gioconda - Suicidio!
13 Gianni Schicchi - O Mio Babbino Caro
14 Turandot - In Questa Reggia
15 Tosca - Vissi D'arte, Vissi D'amore
16 Andrea Chenier - La Mamma Morta
17 La Vestale - O Nume Tutelar
18 Manon - Adieu, Notre Petite Table
19 Manon Lescaut - Oh, Saro' La Piu' Bella ... Tu, Tu Amore (sorry, 192kbits)
20 Carmen - Pres Des Remparts De Seville (Seguedille) (sorry, 192kbits)
21 Il Barbiere Di Siviglia - Dunque Io Son
22 Lakme' - Dov'e' L'indiana Bruna (Aria Dei Campanelli)
23 Aida - Qui Radames Verra'! ... O Patria Mia (sorry, 192kbits)
24 La Boheme - O Soave Fanciulla
25 Turandot - Signora Ascolta
26 Pagliacci - Qual Fiamma Avea Nel Guardo
27 Il Trovatore - D'amor Sull'ali Rosee
28 Madama Butterfly - Vogliatemi Bene, Un Bene Piccolino
29 Dinorah - Ombra Leggiera
30 Carmen - Les Tringles Des Sistres Tintaient
31 Ernani - Surta E' La Notte ... Ernani, Ernani, Involami
32 Manon Lescaut - In Quelle Trine Morbide
33 Aida - Ritorna Vincitor
34 Orfeo E Euridice - J'ai Perdu Mon Eurydice
35 I Vespri Siciliani - Bolero Merce' Dilette Amiche (sorry, 192kbits)
36 Louise - Depuis Le Jour
37 La Boheme - Donde Lieta Usci' (sorry, 192kbits)
38 Mignon - Ah, Pour Ce Soir ... Je Suis Titania (Polacca)
39 La Traviata - Teneste La Promessa ... Addio Del Passato
40 Don Carlo - O Don Fatale
41 Samson Et Dalila - Printemps Qui Commence
42 La Sonnambula - Compagne, Teneri Amici ... Come Per Me Sereno
43 Adriana Lecouvreur - Ecco Respiro Appena ... Io Son L'umile Ancella
44 Lucia Di Lammermoor - Spargi D'amaro Pianto

Maria Callas was born Maria Anna Sophia Cecilia Kalogeropoulou in New York on 2 December 1923 to Greek immigrant parents Evangelia and George Kalogeropoulos. In 1937 Evangelia separated from her husband and returned with her two daughters Maria and Jackie to Greece, where she intended to give them the musical education she could not afford in America. Maria began her vocal studies with the soprano Maria Trivella and the following year she became a pupil of Elvira de Hidalgo, who concentrated on coloratura training. The young Mary Kalogeropoulou, as she was then known, made her stage debut at the age of 15 as Santuzza in a student production of Cavalleria rusticana, and in June 1940 she joined the National Theatre company in Athens, and her first engagement was to sing songs in Shakespeareís Merchant of Venice at the Royal Theatre.

On 21 January 1941 she made her professional operatic dÈbut as Beatrice in Boccaccio, and on 27 August 1942 she sang her first Tosca (in Greek) at the open-air Park Summer Theatre. There was a further run of performances of Tosca in September at which the opera was sung in Italian, and these afforded Maria her first real taste of stardom. During the following three years with the company she also sang in Tiefland, Ho Protomastoraas, Cavalleria rusticana, Fidelio and Der Bettelstudent.

As soon as the Second World War had finished, Maria decided to return to the USA to further her career, and in September 1945 she sailed for New York to be reunited with her father. Now calling herself Maria Callas (adopting the surname that her father had devised back in 1929) she failed to achieve anything until Giovanni Zenatello, who was in the USA to find singers for the 1947 Verona Opera Festival, engaged her to sing in La Gioconda.

Callas arrived in Verona on 28 June, and on that same evening she met Giovanni Battista Meneghini, a middle-aged wealthy Italian industrialist and opera lover, who immediately began to take an interest in the gauche and inexperienced girl. On 2 August she made her Italian dÈbut in the Arena at Verona in La Gioconda, conducted by Tullio Serafin. The performances were successful enough but Callas made no special impression and the expected offers of further work did not materialise. But Serafin knew that she had potential and he engaged her to sing Isolde in Italian at La Fenice in Venice in December, and this led to further engagements in Italy, mainly in heavy dramatic roles like Turandot and Aida.

On 19 January 1949, having just sung her first Br¸nnhilde in Die Walk¸re eleven days earlier, Callas, at the insistance of Serafin, replaced the indisposed Margherita Carosio as Elvira in I puritani at La Fenice, and her performance stunned the operatic world. This was the turning point in Callasís career and the start of her involvement in the rehabilitation of the Italian bel canto repertoire. On 21 April 1949 Callas married Meneghini in Verona and sailed that night for Argentina to sing at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. Helped by Meneghini as both husband and manager, Callas developed her career in Italy and abroad during the next two years. On 7 December 1951 she opened the season at La Scala, Milan, in I vespri siciliani to enormous acclaim, and for the next seven years La Scala was the scene of her greatest triumphs in a wide range of roles.

On 29 July 1952 Callas signed a recording contract with EMI, the first fruit of which was Lucia di Lammermoor, recorded in Florence in February 1953. Later in the year Callas began a series of complete opera recordings with the forces of La Scala, starting with I puritani and Cavalleria rusticana conducted by Serafin. These were followed by the now legendary Tosca conducted by Victor de Sabata, In 1954 Callas reduced her weight by 30 kilos and her appearance changed dramatically.

During the summer she recorded a further four complete operas at La Scala and made her first two recital discs in London. Over the following three years she consolidated her position as one of the leading divas of the operatic world, and continued to record prolifically for EMI.

In September 1957 Elsa Maxwell, the American society hostess, introduced the Meneghinis to the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis at a party in Venice. In January 1958 Callas was harshly criticised in the media for withdrawing after the first act of a gala performance of Norma in Rome. Later that year she decided not to appear again at La Scala after quarrelling with the director, and she was fired from the Metropolitan in New York after failing to agree on performances for the following season. In July 1959 Onassis invited Callas and her husband for a cruise on his yacht, the Christina; by the end of the cruise Callas and Onassis were lovers and the Meneghini marriage was over. During the next few years Callas curtailed her stage appearances and devoted herself to the international high life with Onassis, until by 1962 she was performing only at a few concerts.

In January 1964 Franco Zeffirelli persuaded Callas to return to opera at Covent Garden in a memorable new production of Tosca. In May she appeared in Paris in Norma, directed by Zeffirelli, in a spectacular staging that was to be her last new production. During the early part of 1965 she sang further performances of Tosca in Paris and New York, and then five performances of Norma in Paris, but she was unable to finish the last one due to ill health. She was advised on medical grounds to withdraw from her next performances of Tosca at Covent Garden but she decided to sing just once; she chose the Royal Gala on 5 July, which turned out to be her final appearance on the operatic stage.

In 1966 Callas relinquished her American citizenship and took Greek nationality, thereby technically annulling her marriage to Meneghini; she expected Onassis to marry her but instead, two years later, he married Jacqueline Kennedy. Callas was devastated. In the summer of 1969 she played Medea in a non-operatic film of the play by Euripides, directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini, and in 1971-2 she gave a series of Master Classes at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. There she met up again with her old colleague, the tenor Giuseppe di Stefano, who persuaded her to undertake an extensive international recital tour with him. The tour, a personal triumph but an artistic failure, began in Hamburg in October 1973 and continued into 1974. The final concert with di Stefano took place in Sapporo, Japan, on 11 November 1974; this was Callasís last public performance.

Onassis tried to rekindle his relationship with Callas, but she refused to have him back while he remained married to Jacqueline. On 15 March 1975 Onassis died after an operation; Callas was by then a virtual recluse. Alone in her Paris apartment, she died from natural causes on 16 September 1977. ---Tony Locantro, amazon.com

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Disc: 1
1. Overture
2. Act One: A Te, Ciel Natio
3. Act One: Qual S'offre Al Mio Sguardo
4. Act One: In Alto Mare E Battuto Dai Venti
5. Act One: O Donna!
6. Act One: Qual'e Il Tuo Nome?
7. Act Two: O Patria, O Cara Patria
8. Act Two: O Tu, Palermo
9. Act Two: Ai Nostri Fidi Nunzio... Santo Amor
10. Act Two: Quale, O Prode, Al Tuo Coraggio
11. Act Two: Cavalier, Questo Foglio Il Vicere V'invia!
12. Act Two: Il Rossor Mi Copri/Il Terrore Ho Nel Sen

Disc: 2
1. Act Three: Si, M'aborriva Ed A Ragion!
2. Act Three: In Braccio Alle Dovizie
3. Act Three: Sogno O Son Desto!... Mentre Contemplo
4. Act Three: Ma Che! Fuggi Il Mio Sguardo... Ah!... Figlio, Invano
5. Act Three: Ballet
6. Act Three: O Splendide Feste! O Notti Feconde
7. Act Three: Colpo Orrendo, Inaspeettato!

Disc: 3
1. Act Four: E Di Monforte Il Cenno!
2. Act Four: Giorno Di Pianto
3. Act Four: O Sdegni Miei, Tacete!
4. Act Four: Arrigo! Ah, Parli A Un Core
5. Act Four: Pensando A Me! E Dolce Raggio
6. Act Four: Amica Man, Sollievo Al Martir
7. Act Four: Addio Mia Patria, Invendicato
8. Act Four: De Profundis Clamavi Ad Te, Domine!
9. Act Four: Ministro Di Morte, Arresta!
10. Act Five: Si Celebri Alfine Tra Canti
11. Act Five: Marce, Dilette Amiche (Bolero)
12. Act Five: La Brezza Aleggia Intorno
13. Act Five: Al Tuo Cor Generoso
14. Act Five: Ecco, Per L'aura Spiegasi
15. Act Five: In Fra Di Noi Si Oppone
16. Act Five: Deh! Vieni/Il Mio Mortale Dolor

Maria Callas
Giorgio Kokolios Bardi
Enzo Mascherini
Boris Christoff
Mario Friosini
Bruno Carmassi
Gino Sarri
Mafalda Masini
Aldo Paoli

Coro & Orchestra del Teatro Comunale
Erich Kleiber - conductor

The biggest (but not only) caveat about this recording of I Vespri siciliani is the sound quality. Other versions of the performance have been released at least half a dozen times, which is a testament to its vocal quality over its sound. This version is less noisy than some, but it's distractingly boomy. It's a dinky-sounding recording; everyone -- the soloists, the chorus, the orchestra -- seems reduced, diminished, sometimes remote. The quality of the first act is the worst, and things do improve somewhat, but the beginning is marred by innumerable squawks, buzzes, fluctuations in volume, and bleed-through. By the second act, those issues seem mostly to have been resolved and return only sporadically; what remains is a mediocre, distant sound with considerable tape hiss, which is usually at least listenable without causing flinching.

Erich Kleiber leads the chorus and orchestra of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in a vigorous reading of the score, but he makes some substantial cuts. The overall performance is not entirely consistent. The ensemble, especially at the beginning, is especially ragged. If the chorus and orchestra are not stellar, the soloists are exceptional and account for the perseverance of this performance, in spite of the recording's other deficits. Callas gives a lustrous performance, absolutely secure, radiantly lyrical, and deeply expressive. The quirks that tended to mar her sound later in her career aren't evident; her performance alone makes it well worth plowing through the execrable sound. She is surrounded by a distinguished cast whose performances provide a fitting context for her star turn. Boris Christoff's Procida is complex, dark, and furiously forceful. Giorgio Kokolios Bardi is little known, but he is an Arrigo with real presence, and his singing is lyrical and heroic. Enzo Mascherini brings warmth and dramatic energy to the troubled Monforte. The ensembles that bring the four together at the end of the fourth and fifth acts, while sonically unbalanced, are vocally and dramatically thrilling. The extraordinary singing will motivate fans of larger-than-life, old-fashioned operatic performances to persevere through the poor sound of the recording. --- Stephen Eddins, Rovi

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