# Seeking specific live recording of opera



## Huw (Jun 22, 2021)

I'm not at all an opera listener ordinarily, but I wondered if this forum might be able to help me find something I have been thinking about. 
I was in a record shop a while ago and they were playing a live recording on vinyl. This was obviously a moderately old recording (~1950s?). It was remarkable because as well as the music, the recording captured an extraordinarily rowdy and appreciative crowd response. At practically every break from singing, the audience whooped and stomped its feet. It was atmospheric and electrifying. I keep thinking about it and have wanted to seek out either it or similar recordings. I haven't yet branched out into opera (I listen to a lot of contemporary music, rock, electronica and jazz) and I feel like this kind of record could be a gateway for me. 
I don't know the opera and I didn't have the wit to ask the store owners about the recording at the time. I wondered if anyone here could point me toward what I might have heard. 
TIA


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## Revitalized Classics (Oct 31, 2018)

Huw said:


> I'm not at all an opera listener ordinarily, but I wondered if this forum might be able to help me find something I have been thinking about.
> I was in a record shop a while ago and they were playing a live recording on vinyl. This was obviously a moderately old recording (~1950s?). It was remarkable because as well as the music, the recording captured an extraordinarily rowdy and appreciative crowd response. At practically every break from singing, the audience whooped and stomped its feet. It was atmospheric and electrifying. I keep thinking about it and have wanted to seek out either it or similar recordings. I haven't yet branched out into opera (I listen to a lot of contemporary music, rock, electronica and jazz) and I feel like this kind of record could be a gateway for me.
> I don't know the opera and I didn't have the wit to ask the store owners about the recording at the time. I wondered if anyone here could point me toward what I might have heard.
> TIA


Maria Callas is probably the most issued (and re-issued) artist from that time and her crowds at La Scala, Milan, and Mexico in particular were extraordinary. Also, her live records include popular operas such as _Aida_ and _La Traviata_ which might turn up more frequently in record shops?

There is a performance of Aida from Mexico which was amazing and the crowd cheer all the time e.g. 





Another famous recording it might have been is _La Traviata_ at La Scala with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Ettore Bastianini conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini





Either way, the sound is not great on these live recordings but they are definitely 'atmospheric and electrifying' if that is what you are looking for


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Other Callas performances where the audience are a palpable presence are, I would say, the Berlin *Lucia di Lammermoor* under Karajan.






The 1957 *Anna Bolena*











and the 1955 *Norma*






For CDs or downloads of these, your best bet is https://divinarecords.com/ as the sound quality is generally much better than other sources.


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## Huw (Jun 22, 2021)

Thankyou so much - these are simply wonderful. I realise that something I love here is the contrast between the grainy/hissing recordings and the clarity of the vocal. There's something in the way the former brings out the latter more than a well produced modern recording for me.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

I too suggest looking into the Callas/DiStefano/Karajan recording of Lucia di Lammermoor. There was a lot of stomping and applause when she entered the stage before she even began to sing.


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## damianjb1 (Jan 1, 2016)

The audience go berserk in this.


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## damianjb1 (Jan 1, 2016)




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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

At her first entry, Callas stops the show before she even sings (0:31), though the tenor is Corelli, not di Stefano as pictured.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Leontyne Price, in her farewell *Aida* at the Metropolitan Opera sings _O Patria Mia_ (applause begins at 7:45)


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