Boito: L'altra notte in fondo al mare (from Mefistofele)

Arias by Wagner, Mozart, Gounod, Verdi, Mascagni and Puccini show off the ‘golden voice’ of Victoria de Los Angeles. Super budget price.

Claudio Muzio was an Italian soprano whose singing exuded a rarely heard and deeply moving emotionalism and urgent abandon. This collection features some of her famous Columbia recordings from 1934 and 1935 including works by Verdi, Puccini, Cilea and Bellini.

Following her superb Katya in Katya Kabanova, her Emilia Marty in The Makropulos Case, recorded live at the London Coliseum, and her Butterfly for Chandos Opera in English, we were delighted to have enticed Cheryl Barker into our studios to record these thrilling samples of her dramatic artistry in music both familiar and fresh.

The repertoire chosen for the solo disc includes works, actually performed by her on stage, as well as arias Cheryl has always enjoyed listening to.

‘There were two arias that I was very keen to include one was the scene from The End of the Affair by the brilliant American composer Jake Heggie. I premiered the role of Sarah in Houston and I think this scene is dramatic and fantastically composed. I am very proud to have recorded the aria Each Afternoon from the Violins of St Jacques by Malcolm Williamson, a fellow Australian. It is very atmospheric with its simply vocal line. I have also included some popular arias and some repertoire performed by Dame Joan Hammond with whom I studied with as a student.’

‘As an English speaker, performing these arias in English means that I can relay the emotions of the arias in my native language and I think it is interesting to an English speaking audience to hear the arias in their native tongue. Also, it is important to have an accurate translation of the original text and I think in these arias we have that.’

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.

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.