Maria Callas - The New Sound of Maria Callas (2016)

The New Sound of Maria Callas Opera singers come and go, but just a few – the legends – live on. And Maria Callas was the great­est legend of them all, though not just for the wonder of her voice. She changed the way people thought about opera, but she also became famous as the glamorous celebrity who fell in love with Aristotle Onassis, leaving her elderly husband to live with him on his yacht Christina and enjoy the high life with the international jet set. Of course it ended badly. She lived her life like one of her own tragic heroines who (as women tend to do in opera) sing, suffer and die. And her own death came at just 53, after a dazzling but short career that took in heavy roles alongside decorative, nightingale-like ones – ignoring the established rules of vocal health and probably explaining why her voice finally gave out as it did. But in that time she did extraordinary things, using the muscle of those heavy heroines to em­power the nightingales with strength and depth of feeling nobody had thought to offer them be­fore. She gave them credibility as drama. Her performances were absolute and self-exposing: she held nothing back. And she was even tougher on herself than she could be on others – which is why her voice was never quite the flawless instrument singers are meant to cultivate. Her personality was far too volatile and too self-sacrificing in its love affair with risk. In the mythology of opera, though, that’s what the audience demands. We want the diva to be both a goddess and a slave: to give her life for art. We thrill to the dimension of that sacrifice. And Callas dutifully obliged. (Michael White, 2014)


Tracklist:

01. Norma, Act 1: "Casta diva" (Norma, Chorus)
02. La bohème, Act 1: "Sì. Mi chiamano Mimì" (Mimi)
03. La bohème, Act 3: "Donde lieta uscì" (Mimì)
04. Suor Angelica, 'Sister Angelica': "Senza mamma, O bimbo" (Sister Angelica)
05. Gianni Schicchi, Act 1: "O mio babbino caro" (Lauretta)
06. La traviata, Act 1: "E strano! E strano!" (Violetta)
07. La traviata, Act 1: "Ah fors'e lui" (Violetta)
08. La traviata, Act 1: "Sempre libera" (Violetta, Alfredo)
09. La traviata, Act 3: "Addio, del passato" (Violetta)
10. Il trovatore, Act 4: "D'amor sull'ali rosee" (Leonora)
11. Carmen, Act 1: "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" (Carmen, Chorus) [Habanera]
12. Werther, Act 3: "Werther! Qui m'aurait dit la place… Des cris joyeux (Air des lettres)" [Charlotte]
13. Lucia di Lammermoor, Act 1: "Regnava nel silenzio alta la notte e bruna" (Lucia, Alisa)
14. Lucia di Lammermoor, Act 1: "Quando rapito in estasi" (Lucia, Alisa)
15. La cenerentola, Act 2: "Nacqui all'affanno e al pianto…..Non più mesta" (Angelina)
16. Il barbiere di Siviglia, Act 1: "Una voce poco fa" (Rosina)
17. Tosca, Act 2: "Vissi d'arte" (Tosca)
18. Tosca, Act 3: "Com'è lunga l'attesa!" (Tosca)
19. La bohème, Act 1: "O soave fanciulla" (Schaunard, Colline, Marcello, Rodolfo, Mimì)
20. Turandot, Act 1: "Signore, ascolta!" (Turandot)
21. Turandot, Act 2: "In questa Reggia" (Turandot)
22. Turandot, Act 3: "Tu, che di gel sei cinta" (Turandot)
23. Madama Butterfly, Act 2: "Un bel di vedremo" (Butterfly)
24. La sonnambula, Act 1: "Compagne, temiri amici ….Come per me sereno" (Amina)
25. Dinorah, 'Le pardon de Ploërmel', Act 2: "Ombre légère" (Dinorah)
26. I vespri Siciliani, Act 5: "Mercè, dilette amiche" (Elena)
27. Aida, Act 1: "Ritorna vincitor" (Aida)
28. Lakmé, Act 2: "Où va la jeune indoue" (Lakmé)
29. Louise, Act 3: "Depuis le jour où je me suis donnée" ( Louise)
30. Faust, Act 3: "Il était un Roi de Thulé… O Dieu! que de bijoux… Ah! je ris" (Jewel Song) [Marguerite]
31. La Wally, Act 1: "Ebben?… Ne andrò lontana" (Wally)
32. Rigoletto, Act 1: "Gualtier Maldè …Caro nome" (Gilda, Borsa, Ceprano, Marullo)
33. La forza del destino, Act 2: "Sono giunta! Grazie o Dio!" (Leonora, Chorus)
34. La forza del destino, Act 2: "Madre, pietosa Vergine" (Leonora, Chorus)
35. Macbeth, Act 2: "La luce langue" (Lady Macbeth)
36. Adriana Lecouvreur, Act 1: "Ecco - respiro appena…Io son l'umile ancella" (Adriana Lecouvreur)
37. Adriana Lecouvreur, Act 4: "Poveri fiori" (Adriana Lecouvreur)
38. Andrea Chénier, Act 3: "La mamma morta" (Maddalena)
39. Alceste, Act 1: "Divinités du Styx" (Alceste)
40. Orphée et Eurydice, Act 4: "J'ai perdu mon Eurydice" (Orfeo)
41. Carmen, Act 1: "Près des remparts de Séville" (Carmen, José)
42. Carmen, Act 2: "Les tringles des sistres tintaient" (Carmen, Frasquita, Mercédès)
43. Manon, Act 2: "Je ne suis que faiblesse…. Adieu, notre petite table" (Manon)
44. Samson et Dalila, Act 1: "Printemps qui commence" (Dalila)
45. Samson et Dalila, Act 2: "Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix" (Dalila)
46. Roméo et Juliette, Act 1: "Je veux vivre" (Waltz) [Juliet]