# Callas Remastered - A review collection, part 1



## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

*The Callas Rarities* covers recordings made for EMI between 1953 and 1969. Apart from the mono version of the Sleepwalking Scene from *Macbeth* and the Scena from *Il Pirata*, none of these items were approved for release by Callas, so it is important to remember that when listening.

We start with two test recordings of Donna Anna's _Non mi dir_ made in Florence before her first complete opera recording (*Lucia di Lammermoor*), and so that Legge and the engineers could get a feel for her voice. She sails through the aria as if it's the easiest thing in the world (it isn't), but the second take is noticeably more relaxed than the first. Though the recordings were simply in the nature of a "run-through", Callas is incapable of being dull. She reminds us that this aria is an appeal to Don Ottavio, caressing the phrases. Her breath control is astounding and there is a moment of pure magic as she phrases through into the second statement of_ Non mi dir_, the voice almost suspended in mid air.

We move onto the _Sleepwalking Scene_ from *Macbeth*, one of Callas's most psychologically complex pieces of singing, which most of us will know better from the stereo version. This one has the added advantage of hearing Callas disappear into the distance as she sings her last melismata up to the top Db, and as is part of the stage instructions.

The Tonini sessions of 1961 and 1962 form the largest body of unreleased material, and were made primarily as "working" sessions for Callas to retrain her voice after the vocal problems that started to beset her at the end of the 1950s. One thing I immediately noticed, listening to these and the older recordings that follow, is that the voice is much more comfortable to listen to in these new remasters. I didn't make direct comparisons, but I remember the sound generally being much more harsh before. Both orchestra and voice seem to have more space around them. None of this material is without interest, but there is an unfinished air, about them, which is hardly surprising, given their provenance. Her voice is generally, but not always, fresher sounding than on the ones that were finally issued (conducted by Rescigno). She adopts a suitably imperious tone as Semiramide, but, shorn of any candenza and quite a bit of ornament, it has a rather bald sound about it. As ever in all this material, her phrasing is wonderfully musical.

The biggest surprises came with the later material, recorded in 1964, 1965 and 1969. The *Aida* duet sounds much better here than in its previous incarnation, the miking more flattering, Callas and Corelli responding brilliantly to each other. Corelli adored Callas. Too bad he isn't on her complete recording of *Aida*, and why not on the EMI *La Gioconda* recorded just before *Norma*? A mystery indeed.

The 1969 sessions too sound much better than I remember them, the performance of Elena's _Arrigo, ah parli _much more beautiful than my recollection of it, the final chromatic scale with its plunge down to a low F# quite breathtaking.

Of course all these late performances expose marked vocal problems, but I was amazed at just how beautiful much of the singing is. Her musical instincts are never in doubt, and we still hear this amazing ability she had to capture the mood of an aria in just a few notes, how she could match the timbre of her voice to the orchestral introduction. The sighing loneliness she brings to Mathilde's _Selva opaca_ being a perfect example. It's a voice in crisis, but it is still the voice of a great artist.










So continuing backwards though the Callas Remastered set. There never actually was a Verdi Arias Vol III, though one had been planned. Warner here use the cover of an album issued in 1972 of material Callas eventually agreed to have issued. The original album also included the Act I Scena from* Il Pirata*, but did not include the *Il Corsaro* arias, Amelia's _Morro, ma prima in grazia_ or Leonora's _Tacea la notte placida.
_

This was actually one of the first Callas LPs I owned, as most of her recorded repertoire had inexplicably been deleted by EMI. I remember I sampled a couple of arias in Windows, the local classical music store in Newcastle, but initially alienated by the harsh sounds I heard coming from the listening booth, I left the shop without buying the disc. However somehow those tones had resonated in my mind's ear, and eventually I went back and bought it. It was a decision I never regretted, as I learned to listen not just to the voice, but what she was doing with it. It also introduced me to some Verdi I'd never heard before, namely the arias from* I Lombardi,* *Attila *and *I Vespri Siciliani*. I knew absolutely then that Verdi was my composer.

Taking first the arias not on that original LP, we find the arias from* Il Corasaro* recorded in 1969, really remarkably good. Her legato line is better than both Caballe and Norman on the studio recording of the opera, and she unerringly captures the mood of each aria. The *Trovatore* has some magical moments, but at no place challenges her superb recording with Karajan. Amelia's _Morro, ma prima in grazia_ is very good indeed, with a superb, firm top B leading into a perfectly shaped final cadenza.

Swings and roundabouts on the rest. The tone at the beginning of the *I Lombardi *aria is indeed somewhat uningratiating, but once past the opening statement, she is in securer form, and moulds the line beautifully. Both the *Attila* and *I Vespri Siciilani* arias go well, the legato line beautifully held, and with Rescigno conjuring up some gorgeous sounds from the orchestra for the _Sospendi o rive _section of the Attila aria. I'd sooner here this version than Deutekom's on the complete recording. Amelia's grand Act II scena is full of passion, drama and fantasy. Though the ascent to top C is hard won, she grandly phrases on and through the note, so that it does not become the focal point of the aria.

The one incontrovertibly great performance on the disc is Aida's _Ritorna vincitor_.This was not originally planned, but sessions had been getting a bit tense and Callas and the orchestra took a break. During the break Michel Glotz, the recording producer played a performance of Crespin singing the aria, which had been recorded the previous day. Callas was incensed, finding the performance completely antithetical to her sensibilities, lugubrious and slow. "I could hardly get the words out, when I did this with Maestro Serafin." On learning that the parts were still there, she said, "Come on, Nicola, let's do it!" and this is what they did - in one take! As always Callas loved a challenge, and this was as if someone had laid down the gauntlet. Somehow she recovers much of her old security, and the aria is brim full of drama and passion. Just listen to the anguish she pours out in_ Ah! non fu in terra mai da più crudeli angosce un core affranto_, the desperation of _Ah, sventurata che dissi?_, with the final plea to the Gods heart wrenchingly poignant. This is Callas at her best.


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