Verdi: Aida (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Richard Tucker, Tito Gobbi, Tullio Serafin, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, Milan
List Price:
Our Price: $17.97
You Save: $15.01 (46%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $12.94 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Music CD Cover
Performer: Tito GobbiPerformer: Giuseppe Modesti
Performer: Nicola Zaccaria [singer]
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Conductor: Tullio Serafin
Performer: Fedora Barbieri
Orchestra: La Scala Theater Orchestra
Performer: Maria Callas
Performer: Franco Ricciardi
Performer: Richard Tucker
Performer: Elvira Galassi
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1997-08-19
Music Label: EMI Classics
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Preludio
- Si, Corre Voce Che L'Etiope Ardisca
- Se Quel Guerriero Io Fossi!
- Celeste Aida
- Quale Insolita Gioia Nel Tuo Sguardo!
- Vieni, O Diletta, Appressati
- Alta Cagion V'Aduna
- Su! Del Nilo Al Sacro Lido
- Ritorna Vincitor!
- Possente Ftha...Tu Che Dal Nulla Hai Tratto
- Immenso Ftha!...Mortal, Diletto Ai Numi
- Nume, Custode E Vindice
- Chi Mai Fra Gl'inni E I Plausi
- Dance Of The Moorish Slaves
- Vieni, Sul Crin Ti Piovano
- Fu La Sorte Dell'Armi A' Tuoi Funesta
- Pieta Ti Prenda Del Mio Dolor
- Su! Del Nilo Al Sacro Lido...Numi, Pieta
- Gloria All'Egitto, Ad Iside
- Triumphal March
- Ballet
- Vieni, O Guerriero Vindice
- Salvator Della Patria
- Che Veggo! Egli? Mio Padre!...Anch'Io Pugnai...Ma Tu, Re, Tu Signore Possente
- Il Dolor Che In Quel Volto Favella
- O Re, Pei Sacri Numi...Gloria All'Egitto
- O Tu Che Sei D'Osiride
- Vieni D'Iside Al Tempio
- Qui Radames Verra!
- O Patria Mia
- Ciel! Mio Padre!
- Rivedrai Le Foreste Imbalsamate
- Pur Ti Riveggo, Mia Dolce Aida
- Nel Fiero Anelito Di Nuova Guerra
- Fuggiam Gli Ardori Inospiti...La, Tra Foreste Vergini
- Ma Dimmi: Per Qual Via
- L'Aborrita Rivale A Me Sfuggia
- Gia I Sacerdoti Adunansi
- Ohime! Morir Mi Sento!
- Spirto Del Nume
- A Lui Vivo, La Tomba!...Sacerdoti: Compiste Un Delitto!
- La Fatal Pietra Sovra Me Si Chiuse
- Vedi? Di Morte L'Angelo...Immenso Ftha
- O Terra, Addio
Free Music Notes for Verdi: Aida (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Richard Tucker, Tito Gobbi, Tullio Serafin, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, Milan
Free Music Review: "Aida" as drama set to music
Hit: 5 Stars
SOURCE: Studio production made on August 10-12, 16-20 and 23-24, 1955 at Teatro alla Scala, Milan and issued on the Columbia label.
SOUND: Pretty good mid-1950s studio recording, although probably not of leading edge quality even on the day it was laid down. Nevertheless, this "Aida" sounds better than many of Callas' complete opera recordings, some of which sound just plain awful. By digital standards, the recorded range is relatively narrow and a bit boxy, but the voices are nicely captured and given prominence over the orchestra, as was the fashion of the time. Overall, I think the sound should be satisfactory to all but narrow-minded audiophiles.
CAST: Aida, an Ethiopian slave to Amneris - Maria Callas (soprano); Radames, a captain of the royal guard destined for higher things - Richard Tucker (tenor); Amneris, the daughter of Pharaoh - Fedora Barbieri (mezzo-soprano); Amonasro, the warrior King of Ethiopia - Tito Gobbi (baritone); Ramfis, the High Priest - Giuseppe Modesti (bass); King of Egypt - Nicola Zaccaria (bass); a messenger - Franco Ricciardi (tenor); a priestess - Elvira Galassi (soprano). CONDUCTOR: Tullio Serafin with the Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala in Milan.
COMMENTARY: Verdi's "Aida" can be approached as an intimate drama with elements of spectacle or as a spectacle with intimate moments. While Serafin gives nice play to the circus to be found in the middle of the opera, his real attention is directed toward the words, thoughts and interactions of the slave, the young general, the princess and the warrior-king. In spectacle-oriented performances, such as those led by Solti and Mehta, Ramphis, the High Priest, is a leading figure in the drama, for he embodies the official position of the Egyptian state so spectacularly on display. Here, he is a secondary character, not so much because Giuseppe Modesti was a lesser singer than Callas, Tucker, Barbieri or Gobbi, but because Ramphis is exterior to the dramatic core of the opera as Serafin--and indeed the old Italian tradition, saw it.
Tullio Serafin embodied the mainline of Italian tradition in performing operas. For those accustomed to the current international style, Serafin can be a shock. His manner may even seem deplorable. He did not care a fig about the present day fetish of textual completeness. His concern was with dramatic effectiveness. He was not a living metronome. His tempi are amazingly flexible (his critics would say downright loose) by current standards, but always with a dramatic purpose. He was not a drill master. He accepted a little raggedness in the chorus or less than perfect intonation from the orchestra in pursuit of phrasings and emphases that prove to be profoundly right, time after time.
Maria Callas was not a naturally-born Aida. For the sheer, glorious, creamy tone many fans expect from an Aida, you must go to Zinka Milanov, Renata Tebaldi or even Leontyne Price. Callas sang Aida in the early part of her career. A pirate recording from Mexico City captures her in full whoop-ti-do mode with all the long-held notes and flights to stratospheric heights that her fans adored, but at which Verdi would have snarled. She made her debut at La Scala as Aida (with no great success), filling in for an ailing Tebaldi. She stopped singing the role on stage in 1953. When this recording was made in 1955, she was no longer so brilliant a songbird, but she was a vastly superior singing actress. In sound, she is good, even very good--but no more than that. In expressing the fleeting thoughts, the bounding emotions, the very soul of Aida the slave girl, she is unsurpassed.
Much to my surprise, I can't find anything to suggest that the apparently natural onstage pairing of Tito Gobbi and Maria Callas in "Aida" ever took place. There were baritones with better voices, but there were no better singing actors in the Twentieth Century. I saw him only once, at the tag end of his career, when his tattered voice was sometimes painful to hear. Despite that, he gave the best performance of Nabucco I ever saw or expect to see. His Amonasro sets the mark against which all his successors must be measured.
Fedora Barbieri was one of a handful of phenomenal Italian mezzo-sopranos who set the standards for the last century. Her Amneris is a textbook on the Italian style.
Richard Tucker can be criticized for his technique, especially intonation, his unique (to say the least) pronunciation of Italian, for his straight-ahead persona, but all that is irrelevant. When the man sings, he gets the job done. I am an absolute Tucker fan. For all his faults, it's a pleasure to listen to a truly heroic-sounding tenor who also manages to fit in quite comfortably with Serafin's concept of the opera.
This is a fine, historic performance that showcases a fading tradition. The four principal singers were larger than life then, more than fifty years ago, and they remain so today.
Five stars.
Verdi: Aida (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Richard Tucker, Tito Gobbi, Tullio Serafin, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, Milan Poster
Aida was a role Callas sang early in her career. Perhaps she dropped it early because others sang it either as well or with more interest; perhaps it reflected her desire to sing less standard repertoire. Regardless, she of course makes her mark on the role, and this recording is quite good, if not exactly the standard by which other recordings are measured (which might be true of Callas's Lucia, Norma, Violetta, and Tosca). To be sure, the voice is a bit squally on exposed high notes, but Callas offers us a very complex, worthy Aida nonetheless. She's proud--a princess by birth and a slave only by circumstance--and loyal and loving to both her father and her lover. It's a portrait of a character truly torn. Her duets with Barbierei as an exciting, cruel Amneris and Gobbi as her half-crazed father are high points, and if Richard Tucker is not the most engaging Radames, he's certainly rock-steady. This is a good show, well worth your attention. --Robert LevineClassical Music CDs
Music Genres
Top music charts in Verdi - Aida (Discography) (Part 2 of 2)
Verdi: AidaRelease date: 2006-09-05; Music CD
Best price: $57.74
verdi: AidaRelease date: 1998-12-15; Music CD
Best price: $13.00
Price in other shops:
Verdi - Aida / L. Price ? Vickers ? Merrill ? Gorr ? Opera di Roma ? SoltiRelease date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $33.94
Price in other shops:
Verdi: Aida (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Richard Tucker, Tito Gobbi, Tullio Serafin, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, MilanRelease date: 1997-08-19; Music CD
Best price: $17.50
Price in other shops:
Verdi: AidaRelease date: 2001-07-10; Music CD
Best price: $7.12
Price in other shops:
Verdi - Aida / Dragoni ? Johannsson ? Dever ? Rucker ? Ellero D'Artegna ? SaccaniRelease date: 1995-08-22; Music CD
Best price: $4.59
Price in other shops:
Verdi: Aida (Callas's Aida "with the E flat")Release date: 2001-08-28; Music CD
Best price: $25.49
Price in other shops:
Verdi: AidaRelease date: 2005-03-29; Music CD
Best price: $26.50
Price in other shops:
Verdi: AidaRelease date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $24.47
Price in other shops:
Aida (Sung in English)Release date: 2002-02-26; Music CD
Best price: $17.69
Price in other shops:
Top Rated Albums
Bellini: I Puritani / Callas, di Stefano, Rossi-Lemeni, Panerai; SerafinRelease date: 1997-08-19; Music CD
Best price: $18.97
Price in other shops:
Verdi: La Traviata (Complete opera); Maria Callas; Alfredo KrausRelease date: 1997-08-19; Music CD
Best price: $16.99
Price in other shops:
Puccini: Turandot (Complete Opera) Maria Callas; Elisabeth Schwarzkopf: Eugenio Fernandi; Tullio SerafinRelease date: 1997-08-19; Music CD
Best price: $22.96
Price in other shops:
Bellini - Norma / Maria Callas, Ludwig, Corelli, Zaccaria, Teatro alla Scala, SerafinRelease date: 1998-03-17; Music CD
Best price: $18.92
Price in other shops:
Rossini: The Barber Of Seville with Maria Callas, Tito Gobbi, Alceo Galliera, Philharmonia Orchestra & ChorusRelease date: 1997-08-19; Music CD
Best price: $16.49
Price in other shops:
Verdi: La Traviata (complete opera live 1955) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Carlo Maria Giulini, Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala, MilanRelease date: 1998-03-17; Music CD
Best price: $12.97
Price in other shops:
Bizet: Carmen (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Nicolai Gedda, Georges Pretre, Paris Opera OrchestraRelease date: 1997-08-19; Music CD
Best price: $19.97
Price in other shops:
Puccini: Madama Butterfly (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Lucia Danieli, Nicolai Gedda, Herbert von Karajan, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, MilanRelease date: 1997-08-19; Music CD
Best price: $18.97
Price in other shops:
Verdi: Rigoletto (Complete Opera); Maria Callas; Tito Gobbi; Giuseppe di StefanoRelease date: 1997-08-19; Music CD
Best price: $15.75
Price in other shops:
Giacomo Puccini - Puccini: La Boheme (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Anna Moffo, Antonino Votto, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, MilanRelease date: 1997-08-19; Music CD
Best price: $18.97
Price in other shops: