Maria Callas Live 42 cd 3 blu rays sealed box set Warner

Maria Callas live captures the legendary soprano in action on the stages of the world’s great opera houses and concert halls. Thanks to new audio remastering from the best available sources, this 45-disc set reveals callas’ compelling genius as a singing actress with a new truthfulness and immediacy.


Containing 20 complete operas – including 12 works she never recorded in the studio – and five complete filmed recitals on blu-ray, maria callas live is the indispensable complement to maria callas remastered, warner classics’ landmark collection of her studio recordings.



This deluxe box set comprises 42 cds (20 complete operas) and 3 blu-ray (5 recitals). 12 Of the operas were never recorded by callas in the studio verdi: nabucco verdi: i vespri siciliani verdi: macbeth wagner: parsifal donizetti: anna bolena donizetti: poliuto rossini: armida bellini: il pirata gluck: alceste gluck: ifigenia in tauride spontini: la vestale giordano: andrea chénier the 8 other operas in the box result from performances which have made the legend of callas on stage: the historic performance of verdi’s aida (when she sang an interpolated high e flat at the end of the triumphal scene to ecstatic applause from the audience), la traviata (lisbon 1958, conducted by franco ghione with alfredo kraus), her only incarnation of rigoletto on stage, bellini’s norma at the height of her voice in london, donizetti’s lucia di lammermoor in the legendary perfomance with karajan at staatsoper berlin, cherubini’s medea and bellini’s la sonnambula under leonard bernstein at la scala, and the heartbreaking puccini tosca from covent garden, 1964. Each recording in this edition has been newly remastered, using the latest audio technology, great care has been taken to assure accuracy of reproduced pitch, which has been corrected in various instances. Some performances presented in this boxset (nabucco, armida, la vestale, alceste) were recorded under difficult technical circumstances and this remains evident in the audio quality. That being said, warner classics has made a conscious choice in including them, since they offer the only opportunity to hear maria callas in roles that she did not perform in the recording studio. This set makes use of the best available source material, which includes tapes recently discovered by tom volf (director of the forthcoming film callas in her own words) in the archives of the italian collector, oscar costellacci. As a result, callas’s voice, as heard in the opera house and concert hall, can be experienced with unparalleled authenticity in all its stunning presence. While the imperfections inherent in vintage recordings of live productions have not disappeared, the majority of the performances in this collection can now be enjoyed in sound of unprecedented quality and fidelity.



Each of the 20 complete operas (cd) and the 3 blu-ray recitals in the box set is presented in a digipak, and the cds will also be available as individual releases, in physical and digital formats. Ducoso film and music store in de diepenhorstlaan 10d in rijswijk. Open friday and saturday 12.00-16.00. Other days visit by appointment. A big stock available of classical performances.