Verdi: Aida, 1955

Gobbi, Tito;
Callas, Maria;
Orchestra of Teatro alla Scala;
Serafin, Tullio;
Tucker, Richard

8.111240-41

Although Aida was one of the rôles which Maria Callas sang most, especially in the early years of her career, it is generally agreed that she was better suited to singing Norma, Violetta and Lucia. Nevertheless, when this 1955 recording was first released, Harold Rosenthal for Opera wrote: “for dramatic intensity and moments of heart-rending pathos [it] can have few equals”, while Dyneley Hussey enthused in the Musical Times that it was: “a great performance, splendidly recorded. Callas’ dramatic power and her ability to shade the beautiful vocal line here find the best imaginable medium”. In, for example, the opening phrases of the Act III love duet with Radamès, ‘Là, tra foreste vergini’, her voice has a limpidity which enables her to accomplish miracles of pianissimo shadings, singing dolcissimo as the score directs – one of innumerable occasions in which Callas renders the subtlest markings in the score so effectively.

CD x 2

Muzyka klasyczna

Naxos

09-02-2007

747313324026