Search - Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, Gioachino Rossini :: Maria Callas: Live in Milan 1956 and Athens 1957

Callas fans prefer her "live" recordings to studio outings for their extra charge of intensity, whether the singer's on the operatic stage or in concert, as she is on this disc, which is part of a series of new reissues from EMI. The first four items derive from a 1956 Radio Italiana program; the final six from her first concert in Greece after an absence of 12 years. Of course, Callas fans will want every scrap of salvaged recorded material they can find, but this will hold interest for anyone interested in the Callas phenomenon and great singing. Not that she's in prime voice here, but she never fails to thrill and enlighten. Her command of line is extraordinary, amply demonstrated by the Milan excerpt from Bellini's Puritani. And while she recorded every selection here on other occasions, such is her artistry that duplication is not a problem. So, even if you have her "Bel raggio" from Rossini's Semiramide, you'll want to hear this more austere version. And the Athens "Liebestod," from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, sung in Italian, is more fiery than in her early Cetra recording. Her late studio recording of the mad scene from Thomas's Hamlet was in French; in Milan, with Callas singing in Italian, it has even more color and tension. The sound is acceptable; the artistry, flaws and all, exceptional. --Dan Davis