Music CD - Giacomo Puccini, Victor De Sabata, Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala: Puccini: Tosca (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Victor de Sabata, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, Milan

	Music CD: Puccini: Tosca (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Victor de Sabata, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, Milan Artist: Giacomo Puccini, Victor De Sabata, Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala List Price: $32.98 Our Price: $19.85 Your Save: $ 13.13 ( 40% ) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: EMI Classics
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Tracks: 1. TOSCA: Ah! Finalmente! (Cavaradossi) 2. TOSCA: Dammi i colori...Recondita armonia (Cavaradossi) 3. TOSCA: Gente là dentro! (Cavaradossi - Tosca) 4. TOSCA: Mario! Mario! Mario! 5. TOSCA: Ah, quegli occhi...Quale occhio al mondo può star di paro (Tosca - Cavaradossi) 6. TOSCA: È buona la mia Tosca (Cavaradossi) 7. TOSCA: Un tal baccano in chiesa! (Scarpia) 8. TOSCA: Tutto è chiaro...Tosca? Che non mi veda...Mario! Mario! (Scarpia - Tosca) 9. TOSCA: Ed io venivo a lui tutta dogliosa (Tosca - Scarpia) 10. TOSCA: Tre sbirri, una carrozza (Scarpia)
Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0724355630421 Label: EMI Classics Manufacturer: EMI Classics Number Of Discs: 2 Publisher: EMI Classics Release Date: 1997-08-19 Studio: EMI Classics
Related Items Puccini: Madama Butterfly (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Lucia Danieli, Nicolai Gedda, Herbert von Karajan, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, Milan Verdi: La Traviata (complete opera live 1955) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Carlo Maria Giulini, Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala, Milan Verdi - Rigoletto / Sutherland, Pavarotti, Milnes, LSO, Bonynge Puccini - La Bohème / Freni, Pavarotti, Harwood, Ghiaurov, Karajan Bizet: Carmen (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Nicolai Gedda, Georges Pretre, Paris Opera Orchestra
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Opera as Drama Comment: Originally posted in my music review blog. Check my profile if you are interested. --- Music critics have long been fond of drolly referring to Tosca as a "shabby little shocker" and then misattributing the comment to George Bernard Shaw. No small wonder, then, that this Tosca has long been hailed as the "greatest" opera recording of the last century, even before such milestones as the Solti Ring and the Giulini Don Giovanni. But are such superlatives justified? There have been many fine recordings of Tosca in the 50 years since this one, most with better recorded sound and many of them boasting excellent casts. Are they so clearly second-rate? The truth is, it depends on how you think of opera. If perfect vocalism is your standard, this performance will not be a first choice. As adored singer Floria Tosca, Callas' striking-but-not-beautiful voice is somewhat paradoxical, occasionally sacrificing legato for the sake of some dramatic effect or another. Similarly, Giuseppe Di Stefano's golden, lyric tenor voice sounds hollow and pressed on top, most noticeably in the heroic Vittoria! of Act 2. And Gobbi's voice is typically venomous, lacking any real heft or depth. Those seeking consistently beautiful, secure singing from beginning to end would do well to acquire the excellent sets of Tebaldi or Caballé, the latter featuring a young José Carreras in particularly fine voice. Dramatically, however, this recording is likely unequalled, which is saying a lot in a story driven by murder, torture, attempted rape, and suicide. Callas plays Tosca as ideally as one could hope for--a hotheaded, passionate woman subject to conflicting fits of suspicion, vanity, vulnerability, white-hot anger, and the most deeply felt compassion. For example, her jealous outburst in Act 1, "Lo Neghi?" ("You deny it?), is just short of shrill and is most convincingly pissy. Conversely, Vissa d'arte is beautiful and perfectly paced--a masterful depiction of suffering, in which the cry to God at the end of the aria is a fearful but reverent plea for mercy. But perhaps most striking is the moment when Tosca stabs and then hisses at the dying Scarpia, "Muori! Muori! Muori!" (Die! Die! Die!), delivered so viciously you can almost see the blood on her hands. Cavaradossi is always less important in this opera, but Giuseppe Di Stefano makes a good case for him. What Stefano's Cavaradossi lacks in heroism he makes up for in beauty--with Stefano, we never forget that Cavaradossi is a lovesick artist. His two arias come off with great sentimentality and his Act III duet with Tosca, O dolci mani, displays some of the most ardent and beautiful singing ever recorded. But Callas and Stefano are more than matched in the Baron Scarpia of Tito Gobbi. His trademark snarl is used to great effect, capable of both stentorian authority and warm, honeyed manipulation. This is the definitive Scarpia--a vile, slithering, sadistic animal in an aristocrat's coat, who makes Darth Vader look kind of like a sissy. At the end of Act 1, Gobbi's Te Deum is the most gripping in the catalogue, illustrating both his declamatory style and the thoughtfulness of his interpretation. To extract an example: Scarpia's high note in the last phrase, "Tosca, mi fai dimenticare Iddio!" ("Tosca you make me forget God!), usually milked for melodrama, is here underplayed. Why? Because for Scarpia, this isn't a fervent confession of evil; it's just a statement, and it's hardly a turning point for a villain so foul. In truth, Gobbi's Scarpia sounds most fervent when he's torturing Cavaradossi, where his gleeful snarling conveys the Baron's sadism perfectly. But, almost as important, he also dies very well, shouting furiously and choking on his own blood in a pleasingly graphic way. Victor De Sabata leads the orchestra in a reading of blistering, Italianate intensity. Every line of the score is sharply defined without ever sacrificing weight or visceral impact. Furthermore, everything is paced to create the most excruciating tension possible--when else has the orchestra so perfectly conveyed the desperation of Tosca's confrontation with Scarpia? And when else has the ending of Tosca felt so physically, mercilessly traumatic? In Sabata's hands, the orchestra does a most marvelous thing: it becomes another voice, telling the story as clearly as any one of the characters. In all, this is a superb achievement that admirably lives up to its reputation. If you've never experienced opera as drama, this is the place to start. Highly recommended. Grade: A+ NOTE: Be sure to get this 1997 Callas Edition (still in print and readily available), rather than one of the subsequent poor remasterings. Customer Rating: Summary: Pretty Good Comment: This CD set is fairly nice for the price it was. Everything sounded beautiful, my only problem was that some parts are way louder than others, so I had to control the volume alot. Customer Rating: Summary: Simply excelent! Comment: I bought this live recording with Maria Callas and G. di Stefano (no more, and no less!) to have the opportunity to listen a golden-pattern performance, and certainly it is. But moreover, despite of being a live recording in mono, the quality of the sound is really good, differently form other recordings of the time. This box has not the habitual label of "this is a live record in which the sound quality is below the standards". Does anyone knows if this has something to do with the color of the box (black, instead of blue?). Is that some kind of "code" used by EMI? Customer Rating: Summary: The Incomparable Callas Comment: She was sui generis (unlike any other) and for any fan of Mme. Callas this CD is a "must have!!! For the younger generation who were not fortunate enough to have ever heard her in person, her voice, although imperfect,portrays the complexity of Floria Tosca, through the delicate shadings of Callas' voice. Tosca is vulnerable, she is jealous, she is loving, she is delicate and tough at the same time. All of this is plain to hear through the marvel of this greatest of singing actresses. Customer Rating: Summary: A complete classic among classics Comment: This is one of the few opera recordings that can reach immortality. De Sabata conducts superb over orchestra and a trinity of "monsters": Di Stefano, Callas and Gobbi understood not only the music but the drama. Opera as it always must be. What can we say about the climatic experience of Callas and Gobbi together, probably the most talented actors in opera? At the end, pay attention (it is impossible not to) to Tosca's death... In the voice of Callas, no other soprano in history have achieved such perfection. More Reviews
Editorial Reviews: Little can be added to what's been written about this landmark recording, except that Walter Legge's 1953 mono production yields nothing to modern Tosca recordings for vivacity and theatrical impact--especially Maria Callas's. The miraculous Victor de Sabata conjures up a vibrant, inspiring orchestral canvas that enables Callas and her stellar cohorts to work their magic. Tito Gobbi and Callas spur each other on to heights in which the characters take over from the singers in the listener's mind. Giuseppe Di Stefano is on his best behavior, and in fresher voice than on his fine Leontyne Price-Herbert von Karajan remake. On this set, EMI includes texts, translations, and notes that discuss this recording in the context of Callas's mercurial career. --Jed Distler