Elisabetta: Maria Callas Don Carlo: Giuseppe di Stefano Conductor: Antonio de Almeida "Io vengo a domandar" - Don Carlo Saint Giles Cripplegate Church, London December, 10, 1972
This is from Karajan,s fantastic unnown recording of Verdi,s Requiem. The singing of Price and Cossotto is the most beutyfull singing of this parts in any recording,and will be standing for ever…
Callas , fue mejorando poco a poco , en la gira del año siguiente 1973 1974 . Los conciertos del Japón de 1974 hay una diferencia tremenda con este dúo del 72 . Qué pena que el disco no lo hicieran al final de la gira !
She was the greatest who ever existed, and he was one of the greatest. But let's face it : here they are extremely bad, their time was up and their voices destroyed. A moving historical document though, of course.
Great moments of opera listen again to the finale from about 6:50 on, and you can get a glimpse of very good late Callas. It’s not much and her singing days are obviously numbered now, but she is singing steadier here than she sang in the 1961-1968 era. When they sang this Don Carlo duet the following year, live in Philly (with piano), her voice was not in even as good a condition as in this studio recording but the performance was riveting as was the Cavalleria duet. Totally generous outpouring of sound. Throughout the evening we were just so grateful to be hearing the legend “live” (she cancelled the Carnegie Hall concert the week before just 5 minutes before curtain!). Furthermore, you couldn’t take your eyes off of her. We stomped our feet, we cried, and we bravo-ed till we were hoarse because we all knew it was the end. To be able to pay her homage was an honor for us.
Jeffrey Miller it’s slightly better, but still so sad. I disagree that it is more steady than her 1961-68 era too - there are so many wonderful recordings from that time - the superb Carmen, the 1964 O Don Fatale etc etc - infinitely better than here. I understand why people were excited and that they wanted to pay homage, I probably would have done the same.
Great moments of opera isn’t it though? It is tragically sad. It’s not a beau geste to compare any of the late 1950’s-early 1960’s recordings to the prime Callas of Mexico City or the early EMI & Cetra things-I puritani, Tosca, Lucia, 78 rpm Liebestod, Cavalleria, Traviata, Gioconda, Norma, Puccini arias, Coloratura/lyric albums. That voice was gone 2 years later. The live Dec 1955 La Scala Norma was IMO her last great performance for which no indulgences were necessary. She was 32. After that her placement dropped, her voice got that “hollow” pulled back sound and steady high notes above the staff were few. Sadly her last live high Eb, a thrilling note which she once upon a time OWNED, was the Lisbon Traviata in 1958 and the last one ever was the Lucia studio remake the following year. None of them are great. Just 5 years earlier she recorded some of the greatest high Ebs and E naturals on record, but from age 36 on it was the law of diminishing returns. I’ve lived with her recordings for over 50 years and of course appreciate the greatness in all despite the vocal decline, but it’s the early things to which I almost exclusively return now. P.S. My Carmen is Solange Michel. Then Victoria de Los Angeles.
Jeffrey Miller thanks for this post. I agree that the early recordings are simply astonishing - the debut in Medea is my most recent discovery which just made my jaw drop. I think it might be her greatest role in terms of creating a living, breathing character. I’ve never listened to that studio Lucia. The only Callas recording I haven’t liked from before 1965, is the live Pirata in 1959 which to me is so harsh all the way through - could be the recording, but I just can’t enjoy it. I haven’t made my way though every one of her recordings yet though.
Great moments of opera Try the Divina Records release of the Pirata performance. I think it’s much better than EMI, Melodram, etc.. Also, I think that it’s a toss up which is worse - these sessions or some of those 1960s recordings. In some ways, she is better here: namely, the voice is much clearer (almost none of the nasality and bottled tones here). Yet in the 1960s she did indeed seem better supported and less cautious. As well, she seemed more willing to push through, which is perhaps not advisable from a vocal health standpoint, but something that could at least get her through performances at that stage. Here, it seems like she is barely able to send any air through her chords, and there is a huge hole in the middle of the voice. She also seems to have replicated Di Stefano’s excessively open vowels. In general, though, it’s clear that the voice in both periods was out of alignment. She really lost the balance of her voice, especially the ‘scuro’ (if we may use such terms). It really is tragic.
Mi risulta che Maria Callas non abbia autorizzata la pubblicazione dei duetti Philips e che tutto il materiale registrato sia stato pubblicato post mortem. Adesso non so precisamente come siano state le cose. Ma forse la tua domanda è rivolta ai discografici ... :-)?!? In ogni caso, sarà pure vero che si tratta di due artisti non al proprio meglio, negli Anni '70, ma di grandissimi artisti si tratta. Hai presente chi sono stati Di Stefano e la Callas? No, perché non sembra. In particolare Maria Callas. Avrebbe potuto cantare anche senza voce. Credo fermamente che si debba rispetto, se non altro, a chi ha fatto la storia del canto.
Mrapellicon, purtroppo lei ha ragione. La Callas si salva solo con la giustezze e con il colore dell " espressione mentre Di Stefano , sguaiato e gridato a squarciagola non sarebbe adatto nemmeno a canzoni da osteria. Chi glielo ha fatto fare? Vero è che la Callas ne aveva impedita la pubblicazione.
![[RARE] STUDIO -- Don Carlo: Io vengo a domandar - Callas / di Stefano](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
