Friday, October 20, 2006
Callas forvever
EMI just released “Callas Live” an 8 CD set comprised of live recordings of the golden era of her performances in the early 50s, when she was changing the face of opera. It’s amazing: Callas in her prime singing the roles that changed the face of music.
The intensity of her performances were something no other singer in recorded history can touch. Most of her studio recordings were in an era when her voice began develop a wobble in the upper notes. In the early years those notes were rock solid and the effect was overwhelming.
Callas remains the most recorded operatic artist in history. Walk into any music store and her recordings will out number all others by at least a factor of three. Nearly 50 years after her prime, she is mourned my many.
The great Ewa Podles said of her:
“People are funny, because they can’t be happy. If they have somebody like Maria Callas in front of them, they always try to find something wrong, something bad, a few mistakes, you know? And maybe she had three voices, maybe she had three ranges, I don’t know — I am professional singer. Nothing disturbed me, nothing! I bought everything that she offered me. Why? Because all of her voices, her registers, she used how they should be used — just to tell us something! She had a message for us, a fantastic message. She had such a big power, and then she just disappeared.
And in the role that Callas brought back to opera, Norma, Caballe, said:
"I remember at my first Norma Joan Sutherland said 'Oh. It's a great opera for your voice!' 'Then I asked Maria and she said: 'When you come to Paris, come to see me.''' At her apartment she only wanted me to sing only three parts of Norma; at the time I was thinking' Why is this it? There are other parts that were much more difficult'. . . 'and now after 100 Normas I've done I now know Maria was right. These were the only moments when a soprano can do it, when she can sing Norma. Thank you Maria, to come to us, and to remain with us (she cries)."
And Beverly Sills said in a 1958 production of "La Traviata" at Covent Garden, and on that night Callas was in poor voice:
"She knew it, too," Ms. Sills said recently. "She didn't deceive herself about the state of her singing. She was visibly nervous. But her use of words, the vitality of language in her singing, was amazing. She was hellbent on her own destruction, and broke all the rules of singing. But so what? That's why 30 years later we're talking about her."
Rudolph Bing, the General Manager of the Metropolitan opera said: "Once one heard and saw Maria Callas it was impossible to enjoy any othe artist, however great."
La Callas, a.k.a. La Divina (the Divine).
The intensity of her performances were something no other singer in recorded history can touch. Most of her studio recordings were in an era when her voice began develop a wobble in the upper notes. In the early years those notes were rock solid and the effect was overwhelming.
Callas remains the most recorded operatic artist in history. Walk into any music store and her recordings will out number all others by at least a factor of three. Nearly 50 years after her prime, she is mourned my many.
The great Ewa Podles said of her:
“People are funny, because they can’t be happy. If they have somebody like Maria Callas in front of them, they always try to find something wrong, something bad, a few mistakes, you know? And maybe she had three voices, maybe she had three ranges, I don’t know — I am professional singer. Nothing disturbed me, nothing! I bought everything that she offered me. Why? Because all of her voices, her registers, she used how they should be used — just to tell us something! She had a message for us, a fantastic message. She had such a big power, and then she just disappeared.
And in the role that Callas brought back to opera, Norma, Caballe, said:
"I remember at my first Norma Joan Sutherland said 'Oh. It's a great opera for your voice!' 'Then I asked Maria and she said: 'When you come to Paris, come to see me.''' At her apartment she only wanted me to sing only three parts of Norma; at the time I was thinking' Why is this it? There are other parts that were much more difficult'. . . 'and now after 100 Normas I've done I now know Maria was right. These were the only moments when a soprano can do it, when she can sing Norma. Thank you Maria, to come to us, and to remain with us (she cries)."
And Beverly Sills said in a 1958 production of "La Traviata" at Covent Garden, and on that night Callas was in poor voice:
"She knew it, too," Ms. Sills said recently. "She didn't deceive herself about the state of her singing. She was visibly nervous. But her use of words, the vitality of language in her singing, was amazing. She was hellbent on her own destruction, and broke all the rules of singing. But so what? That's why 30 years later we're talking about her."
Rudolph Bing, the General Manager of the Metropolitan opera said: "Once one heard and saw Maria Callas it was impossible to enjoy any othe artist, however great."
La Callas, a.k.a. La Divina (the Divine).
# posted by otas : 7:40 PM
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Did you read that Times article about the Tower records closing down? We all used to gather there to discuss Callas, and now I've got no outlet. Damnation.
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