Christa Ludwig

Maria Callas, Franco Corelli, Christa Ludwig, Nicola Zaccaria, Piero De Palma, Edda Vincenzi, Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Tullio Serafin – Vincenzo Bellini: Norma (1960/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:41:32 minutes | 3,22 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Warner Classics

This 1960 Norma represents Maria Callas’s final complete documented version of her signature role. Seven recordings of the opera exist with Callas (1950–60), plus numerous snippets and scenes captured between 1949 and 1965. With 89 performances, Norma is Callas’s most performed part; certainly no other 20th-century diva is more closely associated with the role, and no one since has even remotely eclipsed Callas in the perception of opera lovers. It was Callas’s mentor, Tullio Serafin, who understood the potential of her voice, temperament and musicality in terms of this iconic role, selecting her for performances in Florence in 1948, teaching her the role himself. At this time, Callas was singing Turandot, Aida and Isolde. And while dramatic sopranos who sang that sort of repertoire sometimes took a stab at Norma, it was never with Callas’s bel canto acumen. Her understanding of the drama as expressed through Bellini’s vocal line, her dazzling coloratura – unheard-of at the time in big voices – combined with her unique ability as a physical and vocal actress to set her Norma apart from, quite literally, all others. Eventually, the role served for her operatic debut in Mexico City, London, New York and Paris. The advent of stereo inspired a ‘remake’ of Norma with Callas, whose 1954 recording was already a classic. Urgency came in several forms: the Callas/Onassis affair, which had transferred the soprano’s passion for work to one for living (her performances in 1960, preceding this recording, amounted to a total of two Normas in Greece); statements about imminent retirement; and the toll the diva’s committed singing had taken on a once-indomitable voice. While there is no doubt top notes are steadier on the earlier Norma, coloratura easier, piano singing freer, this Norma offers a deeper, more introspective reading of the role, and more than its share of gorgeous singing – from Callas, and a superior supporting cast. Countless moments, too numerous to catalogue here, raise this Callas Norma to the level of genius. From a haunting ‘Casta Diva’ to a final scene of incomparable grandeur and sweep, in every startlingly brilliant detail, Callas is Norma. –IRA SIFF, 2014
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