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Callas as Amina in Edinburgh by René Seghers
At her début in the role of Amina in 1955, Callas
dominated the ensembles and, at certain moments,
she showed her vocal power off with hardlyconcealed
pride. Her powers may have diminished
a little in the two and a half years that passed since
that time, but in Edinburgh her interpretation of the
role had significantly deepened. Her Amina is less
girl, less naïve, and less imbued with echoes of her
immediate predecessors in the role, Lina Pagliughi
and Margherita Carosio. The Edinburgh Amina is a
living young woman who is rapidly learning to deal
with the larger-than-life emotions that come with
the libretto. The miracle is that she makes one listen
to the words, while at the same time making us look
beyond the rather unbelievable and silly plot. To
whom should one compare this singer? At best, she
invoked a haunting image of the legendary role
creator, Giuditta Pasta. Throughout this recording,
but especially in the final aria, her singing is full of
unexpected shadings, colourings, pianissimi,
bravura cadenzas and accents that fill any given
part of a word with meaning and truth. When Callas
sings, we are looking straight into Amina’s heart.
© René Seghers, 2008
The high quality tapes used as source material for
this release come from a private recording made for
Callas’s EMI recording producer Walter Legge, and
were supplied to Testament by Legge’s widow, the
soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.
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| TESTAMENT - SBT2 1417 |
| La Sonnambula |
| Vincenzo Bellini |
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Performers |
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Nicola Zaccaria
Fiorenza Cossotto
Maria Callas
Edith Martelli
Nicola Monti
Dino Mantovani
Franco Ricciardi
Coro y Orquesta della Piccola Scala di Milano
Antonino Votto, conductor |
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Content |
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Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835):
La Sonnambula
Opera in two acts
2 CD - Mono ADD |
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Production information |
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Recorded live on 21 August 1957 at the King’s Theatre, Edinburgh |
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