TEATRO ALLA SCALA, MILANO 05 MAR 1955
LIVE REMASTERED 2017
2CD 0190295844653 – DIGITAL
Bellini: La sonnambula
ORCHESTRA E CORO DEL TEATRO ALLA SCALA DI MILANO
LEONARD BERNSTEIN
The La Scala production of La sonnambula in 1955 united three towering artistic personalities: Callas, Leonard Bernstein and Luchino Visconti. The excitement is palpable in this recording of its first night. Visually, it was of a stylised, Romantic beauty, with Callas presented like a classical ballerina. Aurally, Callas, supported at every turn by Bernstein’s alert and flexible conducting, portrays Bellini’s gentle heroine with exquisite empathy, creating a hushed, other-worldly atmosphere when Amina sings as she sleepwalks, and bursting with joy and relief in a blaze of coloratura in the opera’s final moments.
AMINA: MARIA CALLAS
IL CONTE RODOLFO: GIUSEPPE MODESTI
TERESA: GABRIELLA CARTURAN
ELVINO: CESARE VALLETTI
LISA: EUGENIA RATTI
ALESSIO: PIERLUIGI LATINUCCI
UN NOTARO: GIUSEPPE NESSI