Maria Callas (December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977)

This week the operatic world is in remembrance of the great Maria Callas, who passed away on September 16, 1977.  She has been a major part of my musical life for over 30 years and continues to inspire even now. 

We are so lucky to have her vast recorded legacy to draw from and Warner Classics is about to release the complete Callas back catalogue in remastered form, using the original covers.  It's been exciting watching this unfold and I'd be interested to hear the final releases as apparently there have been many extraneous noises removed and things generally tidied up for modern digital listening.

I have to admit that with all the different remasterings over the years I'm more looking forward to the original artwork being available in digital format officially for the the first time, especially some of the recital discs with their technicolor portraits.

Having said that, on first listen to the iTunes download of this particular release, the quality is astounding, especially the stereo balance.  La Divina is captured in very fine voice and these are a very worthy addition to the live recordings of Anna Bolena and Il Pirata currently officially available.

Until it's available on Spotify (you can now purchase it on iTunes) or order it directly from Warner, you may want to make do with the unnofficial remastering below.  While nowhere near as good as the new Warner, it's still 19 minutes of Callas intensity worthy of a listen.

To read an excellent tribute to La Divina head to Limelight Magazine.

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#MariaCallas #LaDivina #MadScene #Opera #WarnerClassics