The New Sound of Maria Callas (Remastered) Maria Callas

• Vincenzo Bellini (1801 - 1835):
• 1 Bellini: Norma, Act I: "Casta diva" (Norma, Chorus) 05:40
• Giacomo Puccini (1858 - 1924):
• 2 Puccini: La bohème, Act 1: "Sì. Mi chiamano Mimì" (Mimì) 04:49
• 3 Puccini: La bohème, Act 3: "Donde lieta uscì" (Mimì) 03:19
• 4 Puccini: Suor Angelica, 'Sister Angelica': "Senza mamma" (Sister Angelica) 05:33
• 5 Puccini: Gianni Schicchi, Act 1: "O mio babbino caro" (Lauretta) 02:34
• Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901):
• 6 Verdi: La traviata, Act 1: "E strano! E strano!" (Violetta) 01:20
• 7 Verdi: La traviata, Act 1: "Ah fors'e lui" (Violetta) 03:00
• 8 Verdi: La traviata, Act 1: "Sempre libera" (Violetta, Alfredo) 04:01
• 9 Verdi: La traviata, Act 3: "Addio, del passato" (Violetta) 03:26
• 10 Verdi: Il trovatore, Act 4: "D'amor sull'ali rosee" (Leonora) 04:02
• Georges Bizet (1838 - 1875):
• 11 Bizet: Carmen, Act 1: "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" (Carmen, Chorus) [Habanera] 04:18
• Jules Massenet (1842 - 1912):
• 12 Massenet: Werther, Act 3: "Werther! Qui m'aurait dit la place... Des cris joyeux" (Charlotte - Air des lettres) 07:05
• Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848):
• 13 Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor, Act 1: "Regnava nel silenzio alta la notte e bruna" (Lucia, Alisa) 04:05
• 14 Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor, Act 1: "Quando rapito in estasi" (Lucia, Alisa) 03:59
• Gioachino Rossini (1792 - 1868):
• 15 Rossini: La cenerentola, Act 2: "Nacqui all'affanno e al pianto.....Non più mesta" (Angelina) 06:19
• 16 Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia, Act 1: "Una voce poco fa" (Rosina) 06:19
• Giacomo Puccini:
• 17 Puccini: Tosca, Act 2: "Vissi d'arte" (Tosca) 03:00
• 18 Puccini: Tosca, Act 3: "Com'è lunga l'attesa!" (Tosca) 02:31
• 19 Puccini: La bohème, Act 1: "O soave fanciulla" (Schaunard, Colline, Marcello, Rodolfo, Mimì) (extract) 04:08
• 20 Puccini: Turandot, Act 1: "Signore, ascolta!" (Turandot) 02:29
• 21 Puccini: Turandot, Act 2: "In questa reggia" (Turandot) 06:24
• 22 Puccini: Turandot, Act 3: "Tu, che di gel sei cinta" (Turandot) 02:45
• 23 Puccini: Madama Butterfly, Act 2: "Un bel di vedremo" (Butterfly) 04:43
• Vincenzo Bellini:
• 24 Bellini: La sonnambula, Act 1: "Compagne, temiri amici ....Come per me sereno" (Amina) 05:47
• Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791 - 1864):
• 25 Meyerbeer: Dinorah, 'Le pardon de Ploërmel', Act 2: "Ombre légère" (Dinorah - Shadow Song) Sung in Italian 05:41
• Giuseppe Verdi:
• 26 Verdi: I vespri Siciliani, Act 5: "Mercè, dilette amiche" (Elena) 03:59
• 27 Verdi: Aida, Act 1: "Ritorna vincitor" (Aida) 07:07
• Léo Delibes (1836 - 1891):
• 28 Delibes: Lakmé, Act 2: "Où va la jeune indoue" (Lakmé) - Sung in Italian 08:05
• Gustave Charpentier (1860 - 1956):
• 29 Charpentier: Louise, Act 3: "Depuis le jour où je me suis donnée" (Louise) 04:45
• Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893):
• 30 Gonoud: Faust, Act 3: "Il était un Roi de Thulé...O Dieu!que de bijoux...Ah! je ris" (Marguerite - Jewel Song) 11:36
• Alfredo Catalani (1854 - 1893):
• 31 Catalani: La Wally, Act 1: "Ebben?...Ne andrò lontana" (Wally) 04:50
• Giuseppe Verdi:
• 32 Verdi: Rigoletto, Act 1: "Gualtier Maldè ...Caro nome" (Gilda, Borsa, Ceprano, Marullo) 07:26
• 33 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 2: "Sono giunta! Grazie o Dio!" (Leonora, Chorus) 01:40
• 34 Verdi: La forza del destino, Act 2: "Madre, pietosa Vergine" (Leonora, Chorus) 05:12
• 35 Verdi: Macbeth, Act 2: "La luce langue" (Lady Macbeth) 04:11
• Francesco Ciléa (1866 - 1950):
• 36 Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur, Act 1: "Ecco - respiro appena...Io son l'umile ancella" (Adriana Lecouvreur) 03:49
• 37 Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur, Act 4: "Poveri fiori" (Adriana Lecouvreur) 03:12
• Umberto Giordano (1867 - 1948):
• 38 Giordano: Andrea Chénier, Act 3: "La mamma morta" (Maddalena) 04:52
• Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714 - 1787):
• 39 Gluck: Alceste, Wq. 44, Act 1: "Divinités du Styx" (Alceste) 04:26
• 40 Gluck: Orphée et Eurydice, Wq. 41, Act 4: "J'ai perdu mon Eurydice" (Orfeo) 04:28
• Georges Bizet:
• 41 Bizet: Carmen, WD 31, Act 1: "Près des remparts de Séville" (Carmen, José) 04:32
• 42 Bizet: Carmen, WD 31, Act 2: "Les tringles des sistres tintaient" (Carmen, Frasquita, Mercédès) 04:17
• Jules Massenet:
• 43 Massenet: Manon, Act 2: "Je ne suis que faiblesse....Adieu, notre petite table" (Manon) 03:23
• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921):
• 44 Saint Saëns: Samson et Dalila, Op. 47, Act 1: "Printemps qui commence" (Dalila) 05:18
• 45 Saint- Saëns: Samson et Dalila, Op. 47, Act 2: "Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix" (Dalila) 05:20
• Charles Gounod:
• 46 Gounod: Roméo et Juliette, Act 1: "Je veux vivre" (Juliet) [Waltz] 03:41
• Total Runtime 03:33:26

Info for The New Sound of Maria Callas (Remastered)

Renaissance of a voice: Maria Callas – Unforgettable arias sung by the most iconic diva of all time – remastered for the first time in high-definition sound from the original tapes, for an unprecedented sound quality that shines new light on the voice of Maria Callas. Allan Ramsay, remastering engineer at Abbey Road Studios: “With high definition, you’ll be able to experience sounds which have only been heard so far by people who were either present at Callas’s recording sessions, or who had access to the unique master tape … All we wanted to do is remove the specks of dust, as it were, and wipe the glass clean.”

Maria Callas, soprano
Margreta Elkins, mezzo-soprano
Philharmonia Orchestra
La Scala Orchestra
Orchestre du Theatre National de l'Opera de Paris
Orchestre de la Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire
Herbert von Karajan, conductor
Tullio Serafin, conductor
Georges Pretre, conductor
Nicola Rescigno, conductor
Alceo Galliera, conductor
Antonino Votto, conductor

Digitally remastered

Maria Callas
was born to a Greek family in New York in 1923. Her vocal training took place in Athens, where her teacher was the coloratura soprano Elvira de Hidalgo, who had sung with Enrico Caruso and Feodor Chaliapin. After early performances in Greece, Callas’s international career was launched in 1947 when she performed the title role in Ponchielli’s La Gioconda at the Arena di Verona in Italy.

Her voice defied simple classification and her artistic range was extraordinary. In her early twenties she sang such heavy dramatic roles as Gioconda, Turandot, Brünnhilde and Isolde, but over the course of her career her most famous roles came to be: Bellini’s Norma and Amina (La sonnambula); Verdi’s Violetta (La traviata); Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Anna Bolena, Cherubini’s Medea and Puccini’s Tosca. Though her timbre was not always conventionally beautiful, Callas’s musicianship and phrasing were in a class of their own. She brought characters to vivid life with her skill in colouring her tone and making insightful use of the text.

She is credited with changing the history of opera: by placing a perhaps unprecedented emphasis on musical integrity and dramatic truth, and by transforming perceptions – and reviving the fortunes – of the bel canto repertoire, particularly Bellini and Donizetti.

The 1950s marked the height of Callas’s career. Its base lay in the opera houses of Italy, and she became the prima donna assoluta of Milan’s legendary La Scala – notably in the productions of Luchino Visconti – but her operatic appearances also encompassed London’s Royal Opera House, the New York Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opéra, the Vienna State Opera, and the opera houses of Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Lisbon, and, in the early 1950s, Mexico City, São Paolo and Rio de Janeiro.

From 1959, when she started a life-changing love affair with the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, her performing career slowed down and her voice became more fragile. Her final stage performances came in 1965, when she was only 42.

There were many plans for a return to the stage – and for further complete recordings – but they never reached fruition, though in 1974 she gave a series of concerts in Europe, North America and Japan with the tenor Giuseppe di Stefano; he had partnered her frequently in the opera house and in the studio, not least in the 1953 La Scala Tosca under Victor de Sabata, considered a landmark in recording history. Callas died alone in her Paris apartment in September 1977.

This album contains no booklet.