MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


DVD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


alternatively AmazonUK

Maria Callas - The Callas Conversations II: L’invitée du dimanche
Television interview filmed on 20 April 1969 at ORTF, Paris. Host: Pierre Desgraupes. Guests include Elvira de Hidalgo, Francesco Siciliani and Luchino Visconti.
Arias by Puccini, Verdi and Rossini. Bonus features include a 1964 interview with Bernard Gavoty and rehearsal footage from the Paris Opera from May of 1964.
EMI CLASSICS 3884579 [95:00]



EMI continue to make money from the Maria Callas legend with this series of DVDs called “The Callas Conversations” (Part I - EMI 90574). The main feature is a television interview from 1969 where Ms. Callas is the guest on the program L’invitée du dimanche, or “The Sunday Guest”. Whether or not you’re a fan of Callas, you can hardly help but find her interesting. These interviews prove that she was every bit the thoughtful artist in conversation that she was on stage.
 
A broad range of topics are covered here, ranging from her early studies to her thoughts on perfectionism and hard work. There are also the obligatory defenses against her reputation for being nasty and difficult to work with. I found that when Ms. Callas was speaking - in French with subtitles available in several languages - I was rapt with attention. Regrettably, the other guests, even her teacher Elvira de Hidalgo, were so effusive in their flattery that the whole affair became tiresomely sycophantic. To her credit, Callas remains modest and grateful throughout the sixty-plus minute interview, always bringing the conversation back to her devotion to art and the enormous responsibility she feels toward her fans and to the music itself. On more than one occasion she laments that an artist, having reached her level of fame is also subject to the public’s inflated and unforgiving expectations.
 
Regardless of your opinion of Maria Callas’s singing, there is no choice but to admire the woman’s poise, intellect and eloquence. She is radiant in spite of all her complaints of insecurity and vulnerability. We could only wish that Ms. Callas were given the opportunity to have a real conversation about music, life, art or whatever struck her fancy without incessant sucking-up by the other chain-smoking and frankly rather uninteresting guests.
 
The musical excerpts are now practically sacred and include three rather flawless performances from the 1950s. To fully appreciate Maria Callas is to watch her, and these riveting film clips make you forget anything negative you ever thought about her singing. Of particular merit is the passionate Vissi d’arte from Puccini’s Tosca.
 
The two bonus tracks are interesting, but a bit redundant. The interview with Bernard Gavoty is Callas saying the same things she said in the longer program, just five years earlier. The rehearsal excerpts are so brief that they will be of little interest to anyone except the most complete-ist of fans.
 
Kevin Sutton



 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.