eShop USA > Music > Bellini: La Sonnambula (complete opera live 1955) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe Modesti, Leonard Bernstein, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, Milan
Bellini: La Sonnambula (complete opera live 1955) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe Modesti, Leonard Bernstein, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, Milan
Our Price: $23.98 Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0724356790629
Format: Original recording remastered, Live
Label: EMI Classics
Manufacturer: EMI Classics
Number Of Discs: 2
Publisher: EMI Classics
Release Date: November 05, 2002
Studio: EMI Classics
Related Items:- Verdi: La Traviata (complete opera live 1955) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Carlo Maria Giulini, Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala, Milan
- Cherubini: Medea (complete opera live 1953) with Maria Callas, Fedora Barbieri, Leonard Bernstein, Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala, Milan
- Donizetti: Anna Bolena (complete opera live 1957) with Maria Callas, Gianni Raimondi, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala, Milan
- Verdi: Aida (complete opera live 1951) with Maria Callas, Mario del Monaco, Oliviero de Fabritis, Orchestra & Chorus of del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
- Verdi: Macbeth (complete opera live 1952) with Maria Callas, Enzo Mascherini, Victor de Sabata, Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala, Milan
- see more
Featured Listmania!
Editorial Review:
Maria Callas had worked with Leonard Bernstein at La Scala on Medea in 1953. Here, in '55, they were together again for a very different heroine. While Medea is all vengeance and rage, Amina in Sonnambula is a delicate, sweet, village girl whose sleepwalking confuses the locals into thinking she's unfaithful to her fiancé. Of course, she's exonerated and all ends happily. This role is one of the tests of a great bel canto soprano. There are miles of coloratura, grand leaps, long-breathed melodies, and high notes galore. Callas is at her peak here, singing with delicacy and girlish tone, with fine filigree and sheer loveliness. She makes us care about this character--quite a feat. Tenor Cesare Valletti is her elegant, sweet-toned, and expressive fiancé, and the rest of the cast is fine. Bernstein knows which parts of the score to race through and which to linger over. The remastering of this once-quite-terrible-sounding recording has rendered it acceptable. But even if it weren't (and if you own Callas's other EMI recording of this opera), the wonders of this set--at midprice--are worth hearing. --Robert Levine
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - heartbreaking
1) Opera took years to "grow" on me.
2) I became an opera addict. Fullblown.
3) I "got" Callas.
You who know,
know what I'm talkin' 'bout.
Like everbody, at first, her voice freaked me out a bit.
Of course, I got over that as I came to understand the "big picture".
Maria's soul pours through once again in this [grazie addio] performance of La Sonnambula.
I have great respect for Mr. Bernstein and everybody else who ... Read More
Rating: - The best Callas "Sonnambula"
SOURCE: Live performance from La Scala in Milan, March 5, 1955.
SOUND: Weak, inadequate, antiquated, muffled, limited and frustrating. I am reminded of the output of the first generation of pocket-sized transistor radios that were such a craze when I was in junior high school--the ones that made the Bakelite-cased, table model AM radios at home sound so resonantly mellifluous. Audiophiles who suffer the vapors on hearing digital recordings made with last week's equipment, walk away right ... Read More
Rating: - One of the two Greatest Sonnambulas in history!
This recording of La Sonnambula is a necessity in any opera lover's collection. Featuring Maria Callas at the prime of her career, one cannot ignore the fact that despite the quality of this live recording, the sheer interpretation of Bellini's Swiss village girl in this Sonnambula should never be condoned. At 1955, Callas' voice was at its peak form, fresh without the many characteristics that would detract non-fans from her recordings. It was during this time too that she worked with the famed American ... Read More
Rating: - Callas - The greatest Amina
Callas sounding OLD? Sutherland is the one with the matronly sound while Callas sang Amina with a bright, innocent voice, something even severe critics noticed. Meowing the coloratura? Who are you listening to? To some silly chirper like Pons or Robin? Callas was a dramatic coloratura with incredible squillo! If you dislike Callas, fine, but to invent LIES and to PLAGIARIZE is a crime and REPULSIVE. Shame on you!
Rating: - Legendary Sonnambula
This live-recording is, even in an illustrious discography as Callas', a wonder. A wonder of sheer perfection, love and beauty. Callas who could sing a blood-curdling Medea and Lady Macbeth sang the purest, most touching and tearful Amina. Just listen to Amina's first aria to hear a voice of airy beauty, lucid warmth and tenderness. The duets with Elvino (The WONDERFUL Valletti, a true belcanto-tenor in the tradition of Schipa) soar to heaven rivalling the stars! And her madscene is unrivalled with the ornaments ... Read More
Related Categories:
Recently viewed PC Hardware:
Sony VAIO VGN-FS840/W 15.4" Laptop (Intel Pentium M Processor 740, 512 MB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, DVD+R Dbl Layer/DVD+/-RW Drive)
|
Sony VAIO PCV-RX860 Desktop (2.4 GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB DDR RAM, 80 GB hard drive
|
Sony VAIO VGN-FS920 15.4" Laptop (Intel Pentium M Processor 740, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD+R Dbl Layer/DVD+/-RW Drive)
|
Apple MacBook Pro MA610LL/A 15" Laptop (2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD SuperDrive)
|
DELL P3 1000MHZ LAPTOP 256MB, 20GB,CD,56K,LAN,14" LCD
|
| |
 |
