Search - Verdi, Mugnai, Callas :: Verdi: Rigoletto / Mugnai (1952)

It's still Callas all the way!!!

Benjamin R. Cox, III | Groveland, Fl United States | 05/12/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"What I hear is this: Callas is absolutely breathtaking! Phrasing, trills, high and low notes in tune. A beautiful, exciting performance. Di Stefano is wonderful, but has some bad moments. In "Questa o quella" he sounds fresh and young, but by the time we get to "La donna e mobile" he is flat and out of tune. When he encores the second verse, he's still flat, but the voice sounds good. In the great quartet, he loses pitch towards the end and never regains it. Campolonghi has a big voice and has some very dramatic moments, but does not come near the quality of his colleagues. Also his breath control is not near what one needs when singing with the young Callas! All in all this is Callas' show and she wins the kudos, hands down! Another major player is the Mexican audience, which loves high notes, so that whenever Callas and Di Stefano go for them, the audience goes crazy and that just adds to the fun and sponteneity of the performance. Many of the notes are interpolated, not existing in Verdi's score ( which I had in front of me as I listened). An exciting performance, well worth the price!"

Awesome Callas as Gilda!

Benjamin R. Cox, III | 05/18/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Callas' only live performance as Gilda you'll find anywhere! Buy it, it's lovely!"