Maria Callas - Puccini Heroines and Lyric Arias
Maria Callas (soprano) Philharmonia Orchestra, Tullio Serafin 1954 Recording. 1954 was for Callas an exceptionally busy year. As well as appearing regularly at La Scala, Milan and elsewhere in Italy, she made her American debut at the Chicago Lyric in November. Her September 1954 Watford Town Hall sessions featured on this recording were released on two albums, one devoted to Puccini arias, not without blemishes, and the second featuring a selection entitled Coloratura Lyric Arias, which remains justly famous to this day. In the two arias from Cilea’a Adriana Lecouvreur, Callus’ interpretation benefits from her remarkably expansive breath span. In Boito’s L’altra notte Callas revolutionises performance practise: she not only correctly sings all the written notes, but she understands implicitly what the dramatic situation calls for in her treatment of the cadenzas at the end of each verse. Throughout the remarkable length of her phrases, her choice of vocal colours, her command of rubato and her dynamic range reveal much more than one had thought the music contained. “The Callas wobble appears in these 1954 recitals; in Butterfly her voice is clearly ill-suited to the role, and her Liù and Mimi are inclined to sound stagey and shrill.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2008 *** “There is a wonderful responsiveness to shades of expression and shapes of phrase… Uncanny too is the change of identity as, say, Mimì follows Butterfly.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2008 |
