# best Maria Callas vinyl record



## RedJohn (Sep 19, 2021)

Hello everyone, I want advice about present. I love opera but I have only little knowledge about it. My friend also loves opera, particularly Maria Callas. I want to buy her Maria Callas vinyl record, but I don`t know which one. Please help me with this issue. Thank in advance.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

RedJohn said:


> Hello everyone, I want advice about present. I love opera but I have only little knowledge about it. My friend also loves opera, particularly Maria Callas. I want to buy her Maria Callas vinyl record, but I don`t know which one. Please help me with this issue. Thank in advance.


Do you mean an old vinyl record (as in previously owned) or one of the few new ones Warner have issued?


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## RedJohn (Sep 19, 2021)

I read that old used ones have better quality, but as I said I don`t know much about it. I found some in Discogs website but I am clueless what to buy.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

RedJohn said:


> I read that old used ones have better quality, but as I said I don`t know much about it. I found some in Discogs website but I am clueless what to buy.


If you're going for original LPs, try and find the original Columbia issues, preferably in European pressings.

*Norma* 1960 with Corelli, Ludwig and Zaccaria with Serafin conducting.
*Tosca* 1953 with Di Stefano and Gobbi, De Sabata conducting - one of the most famous and universally acclaimed opera recordings ever made.
*Rigoletto* with Di Stefano and Gobbi again, this time with Serafin conducting. Almost as much a classic as Tosca.

For recitals.

Puccini Heroines - 1954
Lyric and Coloratura - 1954
Verdi Heroines - 1958
Mad Scenes - 1958
Callas à Paris 1961


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> If you're going for original LPs, try and find the original Columbia issues, preferably in European pressings.
> 
> *Norma* 1960 with Corelli, Ludwig and Zaccaria with Serafin conducting.
> *Tosca* 1953 with Di Stefano and Gobbi, De Sabata conducting - one of the most famous and universally acclaimed opera recordings ever made.
> ...


I thought the original vynil stereo issues of *Norma* were too reverberant, as was the stereo issues of *Verdi Heroines*, recorded at Studio 1 in Abbey Road. *Mad Scenes*, recorded during the same basic period, was recorded at Kingsway Hall which had better acoustics.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

MAS said:


> I thought the original vynil stereo issues of *Norma* were too reverberant, as was the stereo issues of *Verdi Heroines*, recorded at Studio 1 in Abbey Road. *Mad Scenes*, recorded during the same basic period, was recorded at Kingsway Hall which had better acoustics.


The Columbia stereo issue of *Norma* was the first opera set I ever owned - new in around 1970, so ten years after it had been issued. It was in a box and you had to send off for the libretto separately. I don't remember it being too reverberant, but I didn't have much to compare it with.

Mad Scenes I acquired in a Voce Del Padrone import and Verdi Heroines in a French import, as they'd both been deleted by then. I remember the Verdi Heroines sleeve was a photo of Callas in *Macbeth* rather than the picture of her in *La Traviata*, none of the music from which was featured on the record and the Mad Scenes had one from the Christian Steiner photo sessions.


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## RedJohn (Sep 19, 2021)

Thank you for information. I think I am going to buy Tosca - 1953. I listened it on Spotify and it is very good).


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

RedJohn said:


> Thank you for information. I think I am going to buy Tosca - 1953. I listened it on Spotify and it is very good).


Well, as I said, it is constantly named as one of the greatest classical recordings of all time.

Please note that it would have been originally issued on two separate LPs in their own sleeve.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> The Columbia stereo issue of *Norma* was the first opera set I ever owned - new in around 1970, so ten years after it had been issued. It was in a box and you had to send off for the libretto separately. I don't remember it being too reverberant, but I didn't have much to compare it with.
> 
> Mad Scenes I acquired in a Voce Del Padrone import and Verdi Heroines in a French import, as they'd both been deleted by then. I remember the Verdi Heroines sleeve was a photo of Callas in *Macbeth* rather than the picture of her in *La Traviata*, none of the music from which was featured on the record and the Mad Scenes had one from the Christian Steiner photo sessions.


This was the American (Angel) versions


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

MAS said:


> This was the American (Angel) versions
> 
> View attachment 159412
> 
> ...


The UK _Mad Scenes_ had the same cover as the Angel release, but the Verdi Heroines was this one


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