Re: Cherubini's Medea with Maria Callas?
Jáns
> What is in your opinion the best available recording of Cherubini's
> Medea with Maria Callas, in terms of sound quality as well as
> performance?
>
> May 1953: Teatro Comunale (Firenze). Conductor: Vittorio Gui.
> Hunt CD 516; Arkadia CDHP 516.2; Melodram GM 2.0037; Idis 6394/95.
> Cetra CDE 3002; Dynamic IDI6394.
>
> December 1953: La Scala. Conductor: Leonard Bernstein.
> Fonit Cetra CDE 1019; Melodram MEL 26022 1988; Verona 27088/89; Nuova
> Fonit Cetra CDE 3002; Melodram GM 2.0039; EMI 7243 5 67909 2 6;
> Documents.
>
> September 1957: La Scala. Conductor: Tullio Serafin.
> Ricordi ACD 201; EMI 566 435-2.
>
> November 1958: State Fair Music Hall (Dallas). Conductor: Nicola
> Rescigno.
> GALA GL 100.521; Myto MCD00164; Penzance/Melodram 26016.
>
> June 1959: Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Conductor: Nicola
> Rescigno.
> Melodram MEL 26005; Virtuoso 2697262; Opera Italiana OPI 10; Arkadia
> CDMP 464.2; Sakkaris Pr.Sr. 267/268; Sakkaris Sr.Diva 1121/1122; Myto
> MCD00182.
>
> December 1961: La Scala. Conductor: Thomas Schippers.
> Hunt 2 CDLSMH 34028; Arkadia CDMP 428.2; Ombra Records OMB 7003; Opera
> d Oro OPD 1251.
>
> References:http://frankhamilton.org/mc/http://www.operone.de/opern/medeecheru.html
> (not without errors)
> Amazon, JPC, ArkivMusic etc.
>
> EM
Callous/ Callas was never my favourite singer. Frankly, Medea, I
couldn't give a damn:-)
Matthew B. Tepper
an interesting collaborator. However, you might find Robert Seletsky's
choices at this website interesting, as his familiarity with Callas'
performances is, to put it mildly, quite extensive:
http://www.divinarecords.com/callas_on_cd.htm
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
Read about "Proty" here: http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/proty.html
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of my employers
ivanmaxim
Ther Bernstein is the one to have - Callas was in superb voice and
Bernstein dusted off the old score to exciting effect. The 58 Dallas
is exciting in that it was the performance when Callas found out she
had been fired by the MET and her performance is really dramatic but
the sound is flawed.
The studio recording was wonderfully transferred on the Mercury site
http://rareclassicalvinyl.blogspot.com/
Callas sounds better here than on other transfers of the performance.
Wagner fan
Tassilo
> What is in your opinion the best available recording of Cherubini's
> Medea with Maria Callas, in terms of sound quality as well as
> performance?
The Bernstein and Gui performances are supremely well conducted and
capture a younger Callas in fresher voice. I probably prefer
Bernstein. The best transfer of the Bernstein performance I ever
heard was on Turnabout LP’s, which is not much help. The transfer of
the Mercury studio recording with Callas and Serafin included in the
big EMI Callas box is junk. Matthew and the Wagner fan have already
told you what you need to know: Seletsky knows more about the
relative merits of the various Callas transfers than anybody else
alive. (The Wagner fan probably comes close!) The transfer of the
Mercury studio recording from the Mercury transfers website mentioned
by the Wagner fan is vastly superior to EMI’s.
-Tassilo
ivanmaxim
> From the archives:
>
> "Here is a listing of all the Callas Medea's, in chronological order.
>
> 1] Florence May Festival, May 7, 1953 - Vittorio Gui, conducting. Only
> for the complete Callas collector; this is her first assumption of the
> role, and she was to grow into it more later. The rest of the cast is
> weak, the sound not particularly good.
>
> 2] La Scala, December 10, 1953. Leonard Bernstein, conducting. This
> shows remarkable growth from the previous one -- and has the advantage
> of white-hot conducting from Bernstein. I love this performance
> because of the fire between soprano and conductor, but its constricted
> sound and the raw singing of tenor Gino Penno probably make it not a
> first choice. But if you ever get to the point of wanting more than
> one Callas Medea performance, this would be the first one to add.
>
> 3] Studio Recording - 1957 - Tullio Serafin conducting. Not
> recommended; harsh, closely miked sound emphasizes the defects of her
> voice, and she was not in great voice when she made this set.
>
> 4] Dallas, November 6, 1958 - Nicola Rescigno, conducting. With
> Vickers, and Berganza. A fine performance, probably the best of the
> callas Medeas. Although the sound quality is better in No. 5 (below),
> and the cramped quality of sound can be annoying here, this is the
> most blazing of her Medeas -- and the one where evenness of tone and
> dramatic fire are most in balance.
>
> 5] Covent Garden, June 30, 1959 - Nicola Rescigno, conducting. With
> Vickers and Cossotto. Similar to the Dallas performance above, but not
> quite as heated. It seems just a bit more tentative and less
> committed, though the sound quality is better. A good alternative to
> Dallas, but Dallas is the one to have.
>
> 6] La Scala, December 11, 1961. Thomas Schippers, conducting. At this
> point, Callas' vocal problems are too severe, and the strain shows too
> frequently to recommend this performance."
>
> (Henry Fogel, rec.music.opera; December 18, 1996)
>
> EM
That review was written before the Mercury site referenced above did
wonders with the sound - sounds like a different recording. Wagner
fan
Tassilo
> From the archives:
>
> "Here is a listing of all the Callas Medea's, in chronological order.
>
> 1] Florence May Festival, May 7, 1953 - Vittorio Gui, conducting. Only
> for the complete Callas collector; this is her first assumption of the
> role, and she was to grow into it more later.
This is nonsense. Like Norma, the role of Medea fit Callas like a
glove. She was already thoroughly into the role, she was in better
voice than in the live recordings made after the Mercury recording,
and conductors of the stature of Gui simply don't grow on trees.
-dg
ivanmaxim
Very true. Wagner fan