Maria Callas
Teatro alla Scala, Milano 05 Mar 1955
Live Remastered 2017
2CD 0190295844653 - DIGITAL
Bellini: La sonnambula
Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, 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 |