Maria Callas - The Very Best of Maria Callas
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Free Music Notes for The Very Best of Maria Callas
Free Music Review: Truly her best stuff!
Hit: 5 Stars
As a Callas-Fan, this is just great. If you like Callas you'll LOVE this!Free Music Review: Lovely CD to have.
Hit: 5 Stars
I like this CD very much. Great CD with superb voice. I love this CD.Free Music Review: Really is "The Very Best of Maria Callas"
Hit: 4 Stars
I have to admit that, even though I've been pursuing and enjoying opera for a long while, I've never "gotten into" Callas the way many others have. I had heard a few pieces performed by her before, but was never really taken with her as an artist. However, since the purchase of this CD, I am glad to say that all that has changed. This disc really supports the contention that Maria Callas was one of the best opera artists of the twentieth century.Many will tell you that her voice is unattractive - this is not so. At the extremes of her range or dynamics her voice can sound unpleasant (as with any soprano), but for the most part it is warm and beautifully expressive. My high school English teacher once introduced the term "voice" as a quality of writing - that characteristic which makes a piece of writing individual, unique, unmistakably the work of one person. Well, Callas' voice has "voice" (if you'll pardon the ambiguities). You will never mistake her voice for someone else's - its timbre is uniquely hers.
Laying aside the matter of her voice, another feature of Callas artistry is her burning intensity, her passion and her drama. Whether it's Orfeo lamenting his lost Euridice, Butterfly envisioning her beloved's return, or Wally, tearfully but resolutely declaring her decision to leave her home to "go far away...among the white snows and the golden clouds", Callas brings the meaning and drama of the arias to unprecedented heights. In my opinion, only Leontyne Price and Renee Fleming come close to conveying the emotion that Callas was so famous for.
My only regret is that the editors did not include her rendition of Desdemona's sublime, heartbreaking "Ave Maria" from Verdi's Otello. This is one of my favorite arias of all opera, and Callas' interpretation is one of the best out there (Renee Fleming's and Kiri Te Kanawa's also being masterful renditions).
All in all, I would recommend this CD to Callas cognoscenti who want a "creme de la creme" album for their collections to Callas novices (like me).
Free Music Review: An excellent Callas album
Hit: 4 Stars
I am the only 12-year-old I know that loves opera. I am pretty much fascinated by the great opera singers of the twentieth century. That being said, I've never really been able to get into Maria Callas. My mother, a voice teacher, adores her. I myself am more of a Sutherland fan. BUT I can recognize a great voice when I hear it and Maria Callas, in terms of technique and sheer dramatic, emotional power, is absolutely unequaled. I think my main problem with her is that I am a person that loves pretty voices and Callas, well...doesn't really have one. But she is one of the few singers I have heard that has been able to move me to tears. I think the album is worth getting just for the EMOTION in her voice.
Free Music Review: The Very Best of Maria Callas
Hit: 4 Stars
Second on my list for CDs that should be recommended for people who want to start on a long trail of Callas to the Carmen with Gedda and Prétre. This has perhaps the best excerpts of all time from Maria Callas. The 'Ritorna vincitor' and 'Una voce poco fa' are to be treasured. Any long-time Callas fan will find this CD of little to no interest, because anything they haven't heard before, there's a better, low-audio-quality version of somewhere. 4 stars for that reason.