Magda Olivero

“The production of Tosca dates from 1960. Ah, those naïve times when people believed it was set in Scarpia's Rome (not in Mussolini's, for example). The date is 1800 and the Battle of Marengo is news. And the scenery is for real.
You could nose your way around Sant'Andrea della Valle, and feel quite at home in the Palazzo Farnese.
As for the prima donna, Magda Olivero (born 1910, debut 1932) has thought out every move, every expression, creating the conviction of living the whole role afresh here and now. She also sings with distinction. Try her in phrases like 'le voce delle cose' for delicacy and the great twooctave lunge of 'Io quella lama piantai nel cor' for power. Her Scarpia isn't so very far inferior to Gobbi: suave and brutal by turns, with fine resonance. Cavaradossi is likeable, both vocally and dramatically; Angelotti, for his brief operatic life, is outstanding.
The documentary of 2003 puts 1960 in perspective.
It includes glimpses of Olivero singing in Milan the previous year, marking the 25th anniversary of Callas's death. It's a weirdly ethereal sound, sometimes very flat, but flat in a beautiful way. She sings Panis angelicus, and at a late stage is joined by her tenor pupil Danilo Formaggio. In interviews Olivero tells of the tenors in her career, from Schipa to Domingo, including a long story about appeasing Gigli.
But the best things are three excerpts filmed in 1965: a delicately acted scene from Iris, authentic voice and style for Alfano's Risurrezione, and the great solo from Act 1 of La traviata. The last is astonishing in every way: the 'Ah, fors' è lui' muses privately; the 'Follies' are sudden, impetuous; the 'vortici' brilliant with nervous energy; top Cs that swell and diminish as you thought they did only in text-books; and a top E flat which you hadn't thought would be in her voice at all. And this is a youngster of 55.
It's a pity we don't get a taste of her pre-war recordings: that would have deepened the perspective.
Seeing her at 92 leaves us with admiration and wonder for this extraordinary woman and her unquenchable devotion to her art.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010