Maria Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Nicola Monti, Rolando Panerai, Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Tullio Serafin – Ruggero Leoncavallo: I Pagliacci (1954/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Maria Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Nicola Monti, Rolando Panerai, Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Tullio Serafin – Ruggero Leoncavallo: I Pagliacci (1954/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:12:49 minutes | 717 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

The role of Nedda in Leoncavallo’s verismo classic never entered Callas’s stage repertoire, and so her recording made with the forces of La Scala, Milan, between 12 and 17 June 1954 represents one of her explorations of an opera made purely within the confines of the studio, rather than developing over a period on the stage. But as in all such cases – this was the first time she recorded a role she had not previously sung – Callas’s desire to explore it to the fullest remains paramount. There is a complete identification between singer and character, down to the smallest detail, that make her Nedda an unusually complex creation that grows throughout the opera as she responds to its desperate emotional thrills and spills.

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Leyla Gencer, Tito Gobbi, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Chor und Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper – Simon Boccanegra staring Leyla Gencer (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Leyla Gencer, Tito Gobbi, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Chor und Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper - Simon Boccanegra staring Leyla Gencer (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz] Download

Leyla Gencer, Tito Gobbi, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Chor und Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper – Simon Boccanegra staring Leyla Gencer (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 02:11:07 minutes | 900 MB | Genre: Classical, Opera
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Walhall Eternity Series

The Vienna State Opera Orchestra is a unique ensemble in its sound culture as well as in its structure. It has a close, special relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic, because the musicians embody in (almost complete) personal union both the 148-member State Opera Orchestra and the private association of the Vienna Philharmonic. In the Vienna State Opera as well as at official State Opera guest performances, the orchestra performs as the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, in all symphonic activities as well as as an opera orchestra at the Salzburg Festival as the Vienna Philharmonic.
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Maria Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Raffaele Arié, Valiano Natali, Anna Maria Canali, Gino Sarri, Coro e Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tullio Serafin – Gaetano Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor (1953/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Maria Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Raffaele Arié, Valiano Natali, Anna Maria Canali, Gino Sarri, Coro e Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tullio Serafin – Gaetano Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor (1953/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:50:24 minutes | 1,09 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

Maria Callas’s first studio recording of Lucia is often nominated as one of the great sets in the history of recording. It was made in Florence in February 1953 following live performances at that city’s opera house (although with a largely different cast and conductor). It was the soprano’s first recording with Giuseppe di Stefano and Tito Gobbi – both to become regular and valued colleagues – and with Tullio Serafin (already a regular collaborator). It was also the first of producer Walter Legge’s projected series of major Italian operas under Callas’s recently agreed new contract with Columbia.

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