Maria Callas Sings “Casta diva”
Vincenzo BELLINI (1801 - 1835)
Norma (1831)
Norma - Maria Callas (soprano)
see end of review for performance details
rec. 1949-58
IDIS 6647/48 [69:48 + 78:01]
Here’s one for the irredeemable Callas groupie: ten separate, mono
versions
on two CDs of “Casta diva”, all but the first with the
“Sediziose
voci” introduction and all but the last with the “Ah! Bello a
me
ritorna” cabaletta. They were recorded over almost ten years between
March
1949 and December 1958. All but nine are live recordings; the 1955 RAI
broadcast
performance is wrongly labelled as being “studio” and the sole
exception
is the famous Cetra studio recording from Milan in 1954.
The IDIS documentation is typically minimal, consisting only of the
briefest
of recording details, track listings and nothing else. You will therefore
not
be able to tell which are from concerts and which are from staged operas,
nor
who is singing Oroveso in the recitative; I am here providing this
information
for those interested but you will look in vain for it in the booklet
itself.
An aural health warning first: the first disc features four execrable
recordings
from the point of view of sound quality. Only the fourth excerpt from
Covent
Garden is listenable with any pleasure and comes as a relief after the
first
three; the remainder are a real trial. The second disc is in tolerable
sound
despite a relapse in the 1958 concert performance from Rome. Any
audiophile
will need to keep away from half of these recordings; in any case,
ultimately
this is an issue for the opera buff par excellence.
How many times in succession does one want to hear this most famous and
demanding
of bel canto arias sung by one singer? Especially as, ironically,
the
intrinsic interest of hearing Callas sing her signature tune over a period
of
ten years is somewhat compromised by the fact that she is amazingly
consistent
over that period in both timings and interpretation. True, there is some
discernible
deepening of her characterisation but hers was essentially a fully-formed
Norma
by as early as 1950. Despite the popular mythology surrounding
Callas’s
decline, there is in fact very little deterioration in her voice in
evidence
here; the faults, such as they are, are already apparent in 1949 and
little
exacerbated by the time of this last concert performance in Paris in 1958.
I
have long argued that the decline in Callas’s voice was by no means
linear
and depended more upon the vagaries of her emotional state and extrinsic
factors
such as the circumstances of her private life. You may hear her singing
wonderfully
well as late as 1969 on “Callas- the EMI Rarities”. The bad
patch
came between 1962 and 1964; as such, the obvious omission in this survey
is
an excerpt from the superb 1960 recording of “Norma”, which
remains
my favourite complete performance owing to the quality of Callas’s
co-singers
and the subtlety of the singer herself, despite some slight diminution in
her
vocal prowess. Otherwise, my personal preference amongst earlier
recordings
has long been for the two live accounts from 1955 under Serafin and Votto.
Although
the sole studio recording here under Serafin finds her in superb voice,
she
is less than glamorously partnered, especially in comparison with the
starry
team of Corelli, Ludwig and Zaccaria for EMI. The only real surprise for
me
here was the 1952 London performance under Gui - which is also the most
sonically
tolerable on CD 1.
So what of the individual performances here? Taking them in chronological
order,
as they are presented, the first, a radio broadcast from Turin, is in
hissy,
fluttery sound with some peaking on higher, louder notes. Callas is in her
youthful
prime: the voice is large and flexible, her coloratura immaculate,
especially
the downward fifth and octave interval runs. She spins the voice on a mere
thread
and the high C is secure. The flautist plays exquisitely.
The second, a Gala Concert from Buenos Aires, is virtually unlistenable:
distant,
crumbly, with frequent tape drop-outs. There are six time-keeping bleeps
on
the second at 1:43. The third, from Mexico City is, if anything, even
worse;
it sounds as though it is being filtered through a face flannel and a
scraping
noise constantly obtrudes. Callas is evidently in superb voice on both of
these
occasions but I can see little point in their inclusion except for
completeness
of record.
The fourth from London brings blessed relief: the voice is distant but
clear
and relatively cleanly recorded even if the orchestra blares. The strength
of
Callas’s lower register is especially remarkable. Tempi are a tad
lethargic
under Gui but this is beautifully secure vocalisation.
The fifth is once more in dreadful sound: there is a loud hum and the
recording
might as well be from 1913 as 1953. There is a sudden change of acoustic
medium
at 1:56; the hum disappears but the distortion is still pretty bad. The
voice
itself is marginally looser on higher notes but is still gorgeous.
The second disc, by contrast, affords almost unalloyed pleasure, sonically
as
well as artistically, as long as you are tolerant of decent mono sound.
The
sixth excerpt is the best of all, being the studio recording, and we may
finally
hear properly the nuances of Callas’s interpretation. There is a
hint
of flap and wobble but this remains magical singing.
Both the seventh and eighth performances from Rome and Milan in 1955 are,
as
I have already said, justly famous. There are few vocal frailties and
Callas
is matched in the complete recordings by superb co-singers. There is
somewhat
more interference in Milan and the diva perhaps sounds more at ease in
Rome.
The ninth, also from Rome in 1958, suffers a regression in sound quality
and
there is some evidence of the incipient wobble which gave Walter Legge
nightmares,
causing him to warn Callas that if she didn’t get it under control
he
would have to issue her records with sea-sickness pills. It appears that
she
heeded his warning; the tone is a little harder but still refulgent; the
vibrations
are only marginally looser; the phrasing remains peerless. Incidentally,
this
was the performance in which Callas became indisposed and it was cancelled
after
Act 1.
Finally, we hear an extract from the Paris concert; the excellent sound
also
permits us to enjoy the prompter’s contribution, but no matter. The
Oroveso
is weak and Callas’s runs are not quite so liquid as of yore but she
is
Callas still and the delivery is both technically fine and emotionally
heartfelt.
My reservations about the validity of including the excerpts on CD1
notwithstanding,
I can still see this quirky and rather daring issue appealing to the
faithful.
Ralph Moore
Oroveso (bass) - Nicola Rossi-Lemeni (CD1, tracks 3-5 & CD2, tracks 1-3); Nicola Moscona (CD1, tracks 6-8); Giacomo Vaghi (CD1, tracks 9-11); Boris Christoff (CD1, tracks 12-14); Giuseppe Modesti (CD2, tracks 4-6); Nicola Zaccaria (CD2, 7-9); Giulio Nero (CD2, tracks 10-12); Jacques Mars (CD2, tracks 13-14).
rec. 7 March, 1949, Torino (CD1, tracks 1-2); 9 July, 1949, Buenos Aires (CD1, tracks 3-5); May, 1950, Mexico City (CD1, tracks 6-8); 18 November, 1952, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London (CD1, tracks 9-11); 19 November, 1953, Trieste (CD1, tracks 12-14); April/May, 1954, Milan (CD2, tracks 1-3); 29 June, 1955, Rome (CD2, tracks 4-6); 7 December, 1955, Milan (CD2, tracks 7-9); 2nd January, 1958, Rome (CD2, 10-12); 19 December, 1958, Paris (CD2, tracks 13-14). AAD mono
A quirky and rather daring issue that should appeal to the faithful.