Ernani

Callas Live Recordings - Live in Concert - CD 11 of 11
Classical | 2 CD | FLAC CUE LOG | NO COVER NO BOOK | 421 MB
EMI B000002SHZ | Release Date: 1998

This CD contains the very best moments of the Greek Diva!!!! It begins with the aria "Un bel dí", from Madama Butterfly, sung in 1935 under the name of "Nina Foresti". Although Callas always denied have sung under this pseudonym, and despite the voice in the aria is very different from the voice we know of Callas (she was only 12 at this moment), the voice we hear at the beginning of the interview is infallible.

Callas Live Recordings - Live in Amsterdam 1959 - CD 8 of 111
Classical | 1 CD | FLAC CUE LOG | NO COVER NO BOOK | 101 MB
EMI B0000BWTKF | Release Date: 2003

Recorded two months later, this disc is very similar to its two predecessors, except Lady Macbeth's Act One aria and Rosina's "Una voce poco fa" have been replaced by "Ernani! Ernani, involami." Again, this was a program that cannily played to Callas' strengths at the time, and that did not highlight her vulnerabilities.

MARIA CALLAS is regarded as one of the greatest divas of all time, whose recordings are standards by which all subsequent performances are judged. The 10-CDs of Live Recordings capture her on some of the greatest nights of her career and contain an interview by American Opera commentator Edward Downes. This recital performance are an invaluable addition to Callas s recorded legacy and show yet another side of this unique diva, whose vocal achievements stand unrivalled today and probably for all time. The eye-catching clamshell box are a collectors delight.

Callas’s only operatic appearances in Germany were Lucia di Lammermoor, with Karajan conducting, in Berlin in 1955, and La sonnambula in Cologne in 1957, but in both 1959 and 1962 she made concert tours of the country, visiting Hamburg twice. The video recordings of her concerts in the city showcase her in a dazzling variety of Italian and French repertoire for both soprano and mezzo-soprano: three consisting Verdi roles (Lady Macbeth, Elvira from Ernani and Elisabetta from Don Carlo); Imogene from Bellini’s Il pirate; Giulia from La vestale; Chimѐne from Massenet’s Le Cid; Verdi’s most explosively dramatic aria for mezzo-soprano—Eboli’s ‘O don fatale’ from Don Carlo; Carmen’s seductive Habanera and Séguedille and, from Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Angelina’s final rondo, which magically combines modest charm and sparkling virtuosity.

MARIA CALLAS is regarded as one of the greatest divas of all time, whose recordings are standards by which all subsequent performances are judged. The 10-CDs of Live Recordings capture her on some of the greatest nights of her career and contain an interview by American Opera commentator Edward Downes. This recital performance are an invaluable addition to Callas s recorded legacy and show yet another side of this unique diva, whose vocal achievements stand unrivalled today and probably for all time. The eye-catching clamshell box are a collectors delight.