World Famous Comics: Maria Callas in Concert - Hamburg 1959 and 1962
Maria Callas in Concert - Hamburg 1959 and 1962
Starring: Maria Callas, Nicola Rescigno, Georges Prêtre Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Format: Classical, Color, DVD-Video, Live, NTSC Label: Angel Records Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: October 26, 1999 Running Time: 119 minutes Theatrical Release Date: October 26, 1999
Amazon.com: If Maria Callas had been born 30 years later, there's no doubt that she would be a multimedia star. Her vocal technique continues to divide critics decades after her death, and even at the peak of her powers it was rarely a voice that pandered to ideas of conventional beauty. But visually, she was mesmerizing. Callas was the first modern opera singer to act a role rather than just sing it and she exploited this ability to the full.
Proof is to be found in the precious few filmed performances that survive from the black-and-white era when she was at her best. Three years separate these recitals, which include tantalizing snatches of Bellini and Rossini, captured at the Hamburg Musikhalle. By 1962, the voice was on the wane but the passion and commitment to the roles were triumphant, as a selection of Carmen's arias proves. Today these concerts provide the key to an enigmatic reputation that survives into the 21st century, and remain essential viewing for all opera lovers. The DVD includes further information on the concerts and Callas's career. --Piers Ford
The '62 is magical, the '59 not what I expected Watching Maria Callas on video helped me appreciate her art more and also understand why her voice, especially after '54-'55, had the tortured quality many dislike. To my ears and confirmed by Robert Sutherland, her friend and accompanist, Callas sacrificed her technique for the sake of drama. The facial expressions, the gestures are all very impressive and show how dramatically committed she always was, but notice how she doesn't help herself breathe properly, or how openly she sings most vowels (especially the a, e and i). Robert Sutherland also noticed that her flawed technique often made her sing sharp on records and rehearsals. Moreover Callas quickly lost the roundness of her vowels (listen to the Macbeth scene and compare it to the '52 Scala performance). Some say the sacrifice was worth it; however, the very early Callas recordings have for me as much drama as the late ones, plus you get to enjoy a voice that was exciting, powerful and healthy.
One way or another her voice declined and the '59 recital captures her in rather bumpy voice and annoyingly pretentious stage attitude. Tu che invoco is compelling and sophisticated. Lady Macbeth has always been my favourite Callas role but by '59 her thin voice was no longer up to the challenge. She is still utterly convincing as the Lady but her instrument betrays her. The first C cracks hopelessly and the entire scene exhausts her. Rossini is a composer Callas should have invested in more. Her Rosina is a delight even if again the high notes are flapping. I can't get enough of her runs and cascades though. Callas fans have always adored her Elisabetta aria and the Pirata finale; these I'm afraid, are not my cup of tea. I prefer other sopranos in these pieces.
If I disliked her attitude on stage in Stuttgart, Callas in Hamburg seems like a different person. I don't know if it's due to her rapid vocal decline but here she looks lovely, calm and reserved. The repertoire is better too! The tessitura is lower and compliments Callas a lot. The French arias, especially Carmen, suit her personality and bring out the best of Callas. The same goes for Cenerentola, another role that displays Callas' excellence as a Rossini singer. Ernani's Elvira is a role I wish she had recorded completely and it's great to see her singing the opening aria in this recital. Eboli and not Elisabetta, is the kind of role Callas was born to sing. Her fiery O don fatale proves it. There are squally high notes in many places but because this exciting role suits her so well, I couldn't care less.
The '62 recital along with the '58 Paris production are my favourite Callas video performances. However, all of them are worth obtaining since we sadly have so little of Callas to watch.
I'm expecting the usual feedback by my "Salieri" Callas mates who don't seem to understand that one can like Callas without being blind or deaf.
The best Callas in DVD This video proves only one thing, she is the best suprano in this universe. She does not only have the vocal quality but the great acting ability as well. To think this is just a recital but when Callas sings, she transforms to the character she is portraying. I could just imagine if we had a glimpse of her vocal quality when she started her career. La Divina Maria Callas the greatest of them all
A Metamorphosis on DVD Not being the consummate "opera queen," I'll spare you my thoughts on the technical aspects of Callas' voice. My primary exposure to opera is on record, and in that venue nobody in my opinion has come close to her. Listening to Callas is like being there, because she knew better than anyone how to "act" with her voice. In that sense, she's like a cheap date for the legions who can't afford real opera. To use a line from an old hippie song, a recording of Callas is like "a ticket to ride." What I find most remarkable about this double bill DVD is the striking metamorphosis in Callas when she shows up for the second concert in 1962. Bear in mind when you watch it that she had by now divorced her fatherly husband-mentor and become lovers with the Greek shipping tycoon, Aristotle Onassis. To say that she is a different woman would be an understatement. Suddenly the cold goddess of the woeful countenance has become a vivacious musical vixen. Sporting a stylish sixties haircut, and a sexy lowcut gown, she almost puts you in mind of Jacqueline Kennedy--but with more spirit. Woops! Did I inadvertantly mention her nemesis, who hijacked her boyfriend, thus ending one of the century's great romances, and sending La Callas' emotional life and career into a tailspin? Sorry. But for me, this may be the most compelling aspect of this remarkable video document. Watch it, and you will not only see a great artist in all her glory, you will witness history.
The legend Maria Callas in her 1962 Hamburg Concert Hello again! This second review is about the second concert which it seems I have ignored in my first one. Maria in this tour in 1962 -which started in February in London and has been preserved in audio in a very bad sound- was in a good physical condition but her voice started to fail her in the high notes region. The wobble is obvious but she still gives more than any other opera singer could give in a live performance.
Her "Pleurez mes yeux" aria is heartbreaking. She does what she was doing especially in her Traviatas. She gives the impression that she will not be able to finish the aria because of the anguish and the torment of the character she is interpretting. She then sings two arias from Carmen and gives us a small idea of how Carmen would be if she would perform the whole role. She transforms Carmen in a very hard person in the whole, very secure and carefree. The ultimate perfection of interpretation of the character. The aria from Ernani is not one of my favorites but she sings it with perfection. It's Verdi after all and it is easy for her....Then comes La Cenerentola which she also sings in a joyful style. I always watch twice the "non piu mesta" part. She fascinates me when she sings those scales and with much easiness... The last aria "O don fatale" comes from Don Carlo. In this aria one can see her acting skills in small periods. In the first part she is powerful, strong and angry while she curses her beauty. In the second part she is sad, asks for forgiveness and the voice is more passionate. And at last from a point of dreadful thoughts, comes joy!! Watch as her face from sad becomes happy and gives the phrase in full happiness..."Un di mi resta...lo salvero..." that finishes with quite a fantastic way that makes people go mad. Callas la Divina in action!!!
About the first review of mine I would ask the previous, friend reviewer to read carefully the booklet of the DVD that he bought. I know that you my friend did not find her singing bad, so it came across that she had not caught a cold, but in the booklet also is said that Maria had a cold during that tour. I will tell you to focus on several parts ` She was suffering from a cold at the beginning of this tour and the effects of it were still evident', `Callas several times sends worried glances in the direction of the conductor, presumably indicating that she is not happy with the way her voice is behaving. ', ` ...the effects of the cold become apparent when a top C fails to sound properly....' . I would also go a step ahead and recommend you to listen to the Stuttgart concert four days after her Hamburg performance to whiteness a really exhausted by the symptoms of a cold Callas... As a Callas collector I own it of course. Thank you for your time. I hope everyone enjoyed watching this DVD. It's like a legend coming alive in front of our eyes in a well preserved picture, thanks to EMI classics...:)
A revelation I didn't want to "review" this DVD, the 2nd concert of which I watched this morning, the 1st yesterday morning because I felt that much (too much) had been said already. But I feel a compulsion. To begin with, I only wanted to give it 4 stars (it definitely deserved that), but Callas was Callas, so 5. I discovered Callas in a 2 LP set (which I still own an unopened copy of) in 1967, and have loved her ever since. But I'd never until now seen her sing. I'm sorry I did, though yesterday I ordered her Paris recital with the 2nd act of Tosca on it. In the first concert (1959) I thought the woman was vain, pretentious, affected, conceited, and phony beyond belief from her introduction right up to the hand-kissing at the end. I was shattered. I hated everything I'd ever heard by her (and I've had a picture of her on my wall for years). Sigh. But in the 2nd concert (1962) she was (as god is my witness) just a very nice, humongously gifted woman doing her thing. She smiled, laughed, made comical self-deprecating facial expressions at the ovations. I loved her. I was enchanted. She sang, of course, like Callas. That was the same. No need to go into it. I did not notice the effect of a cold in the first concert, and I in no way felt her voice had deteriorated by the 2nd one. The video and audio were just fine. I found her renowned "acting" a little tiresome (that's another reason I want the Tosca), but that is easily explained by the melodramatic, grandiose lyrics she was forced to sing. (I watched the subtitles, and my esteem for these composers shot even higher than it had been before, to have actually composed such wonderful, beautiful music to such hyperbolic, repetitious tripe. The poetry of the original may be beautiful, but the content of these 19th Century lyrics was terrible. I've only seen 3 full operas, with subtitles, and on VHS and DVD, Boheme, Lucia and Hoffmann. I don't recall their librettos being so dismal. Incidentally, while I am passing familiar with a few popular plots (Butterfly, Rigoletto), I never read librettos or follow words to arias, I just listen to the music.) If you love Callas and want to know how she looked when she sang, what she did, I highly recommend this DVD. Only 2 major/minor quibbles. I could have done without the 2 overtures and the orchestral music from Carmen, though it was pleasant, I wanted to hear Callas. I would infinitely rather have heard the Gypsy Song (what ecstatic excitement from this singer) than either or both the prelude or entr-acte. And I frankly would have liked to have chosen her arias for her, there are several (many) I would have preferred to hear. Incidentally, unless these recitals had things left out of them, the audience didn't get much for its money, getting all dressed up, driving to the theater and all. Each one lasted about an hour. There was much hand kissing, flower throwing, walkings off and on stage, applause. Maybe (probably) these are traditional European or operatic conventions. Still, I found them a bit much. But I still love Callas. I'm eager to see the other DVD I ordered. But I think in the future I'll stick to my CDs. I really just like the voice and the music.
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