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Product Description
Famed opera singer Maria Callas recorded live at the Royal Opera House in 1962 and 1964. Other singers featured are Renato Cioni, Tito Gobbi, Robert Bowman and Dennis Wicks. In 1962, the Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House were conducted by Georges Prêtre. In 1964, the conductor was Carlo Felice Cillario. The performances were originally broadcast by ATV as part of their 'Golden Hour' series.
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Le straordinarie performance di Maria Callas nel teatro che dopo la Scala ha rappresentato la sua seconda casa.
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72 of 72 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:DVD
This DVD is now available in UK without regional coding and is PAL compatible. I bought this DVD for Act 2 of Tosca and I was totally bowled over by the intensity of the performance. Both Callas and Gobbi are superb and the interplay between the two is almost telepathic. Not only are two marvellous singers at work but they show themselves to be first rate actors too. Scarpia is a sexual predator, corrupt, vicious, duplicitous but Gobbi makes him much more than just a masochistic pantomine villain - the character appalls you but he is strangely likeable too - very odd and disturbing! As the camera usually lingers on the faces of the singers, you get the full force of Gobbi's characterisation - he has the most expressive eyebrows of any opera singer I have seen! Callas shows the despair of Tosca as she slowly realises how evil Scarpia is. The look of shock on her face as she eventually realises the nature of the deal Scarpia is offering her is electrifying. Vissi d'arte is magical and all the more effective by not being followed by clamourous applause. Also very effective is the scene after Tosca has dispatched Scarpia - no singing just pure acting. A special mention for the staging and lighting which add to the overall impact. Cavaradossi is perfectly adequate but has little to do in this act. Also on the disc is a Callas gala performance - the highlights here are the selections from Carmen. Picture and sound quality are both good considering the recordings were originally made for TV in the early 60s and subtitles are included if you need them.
41 of 41 people found the following review helpful
By Tsaraslondon
Format:DVD
This is a conflation of two rare televised appearances of Callas from Covent Garden. The first was filmed in 1962 and Callas is in surprisingly good voice, considering she had almost given up at this time (her only other appearances that year were a series of concerts - no stage appearances at all). The Verdi is sung with a wealth of detail and expression and she acts out all Elisabetta'a emotions vividly, while hardly moving a muscle. Indeed she is so immersed in her singing that when a large brooch she is wearing dislodges and drops to the floor, she barely notices. She then changes completely into a playful, sexy and dangerous Carmen. What a pity she never wanted to sing the role on stage.
The second part of the DVD is a fully staged performance of Act2 of Tosca with Tito Gobbo and Renato Cioni. Why oh why didn't they have the forseight to film the whole thing? Still I guess we should be grateful for what we have. There are faults - the camera work isn't all it should be - but this is surely the most riveting perofrmance of this act ever committed to film.True, Callas was in better voice when she filmed this same Act in Paris a few years previously (some of the top notes are little better than screams), but I have rarely, if ever, seen opera singers act with such naturalness and abandon. Both Callas and Gobbi are superb. You really forget they are singing and end up being totally drawn in to the performance of two actors. In fact I remember that on the days I worked at the English National Opera shop, whenever we played this video when the audience were gathering for that evening's performance, the tiny little shop would quickly fill up with people who couldn't take their eyes off the television screens. Enough said!
The second part of the DVD is a fully staged performance of Act2 of Tosca with Tito Gobbo and Renato Cioni. Why oh why didn't they have the forseight to film the whole thing? Still I guess we should be grateful for what we have. There are faults - the camera work isn't all it should be - but this is surely the most riveting perofrmance of this act ever committed to film.True, Callas was in better voice when she filmed this same Act in Paris a few years previously (some of the top notes are little better than screams), but I have rarely, if ever, seen opera singers act with such naturalness and abandon. Both Callas and Gobbi are superb. You really forget they are singing and end up being totally drawn in to the performance of two actors. In fact I remember that on the days I worked at the English National Opera shop, whenever we played this video when the audience were gathering for that evening's performance, the tiny little shop would quickly fill up with people who couldn't take their eyes off the television screens. Enough said!
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful
By JW
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
The filmed legacy of Callas is not extensive so we should be grateful for all we have. These performances from the early sixties were made when she was in semi-retirement from the stage (blame Aristotle Onassis!), with concerts predominating over appearances in opera, and the voice noticeably winding down - probably as much through lack of practice and motivation as anything else. Yet her phrasing and musicality are never in doubt - her Carmen arias alluring (she never sang the role on stage, and I think that shows, not least in the jumbled words), the Don Carlos appropriately tragic (here, though, she is in competition with her unforgettable rendition from a Hamburg concert three years earlier, fortunately also preserved on film), and of course the famous Tosca Act II complete, with Gobbi in equally exciting form. All Puccini fans will want to have that performance, and all Callas fans know already that these are 'must have' recordings. Even those who don't care for the actual sound of the voice will (I think) agree on the musicianship and commitment that she brought to all of her performances; and for those who see a premature decline resulting from a flawed technique, at least remember that she was singing Santuzza at the age of 15, Tosca before she was out of her teens, Fidelio, then after the war Gioconda, Turandot, Isolde, Brünnhilde (the last immediately followed by Elvira in Bellini's Puritani!), Aida, Norma, Trovatore, Traviata, Lucia, Sonnambula, and all the rest - and in this DVD we see her still knocking out a wonderful Tosca at age 40. That isn't a short career for a dramatic soprano!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Epoch-making DVD
Have owned this film and sound track in every format imaginable since 1964. Good to have it now on DVD.
Published 3 months ago by Denis Ribeiro
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Piece of Operatic History.
I am not really a fan of Callas but appreciate her importance in the overall history of opera in the 20th Century. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Trev-R
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fast
This DVD arrived in record time. I ordered in plenty of time allowing for the Christmas rush and Amazon didn't fail me. Many thanks.
Published 17 months ago by Stephen Duckham
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