Maria Callas
Teatro alla Scala, Milano 04 Apr 1954
Live Remastered 2017
2CD 0190295844554 - DIGITAL

Gluck: Alceste

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Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Milano

Carlo Maria Giulini

Alceste, in 1954, was the first of two Gluck operas that Callas sang at La Scala, followed three years later by an Italian version of Iphigénie en Tauride. It was in the 1953–54 season that she rose to become “Queen of La Scala”, also singing Medea. Elisabetta (Don Carlo) and Giulia (La vestale) at the Milanese theatre. Her conductor for Alceste was Carlo Maria Giulini. Describing Callas in the role of the Ancient Greek queen who is prepared to sacrifice herself so that her husband may live, he said: “[She] was opera incarnate – absolute harmony between word, music and action … In all my years in the opera house I have never known an artist like Callas. Hers is no fabricated legend: she truly did have something different.”

Gluck: Alceste

Alceste: Maria Callas
Admeto: Renato Gavarini
Il Sommo Sacerdote (d’Apollo) - High Priest of Apollo: Paolo Silveri
Tanato (il dio della morte) - God of Death: Silvio Maionica
L’Araldo - Herald: Enrico Campi
La voce dell’Oracolo - Voice of the Oracle: Nicola Zaccaria