Maria Callas
Auditorium della RAI, Torino 01 Sep 1953
Studio Remastered 2014
2CD 0825646340859 - 3LP Vinyl 0190295763275 - DIGITAL

Verdi: La traviata

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Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI di Torino, Coro Cetra

Gabriele Santini

Violetta, the most complex and fully-rounded of Verdi’s heroines, was one of the roles that defined Maria Callas as an artist. She performed it more than 60 times between 1951 and 1958, most famously in Luchino Visconti’s production at La Scala in 1955/56. It is often said that the role demands a different kind of voice for each act, and, when she made this recording for the Cetra label in 1953, Callas offered youthful, ringing power complemented by coloratura prowess and the capacity for great delicacy.  More than 60 years on, her characterisation, in its subtlety and truth, still sets the standard for La traviata.

Verdi: La traviata

Violetta Valéry: Maria Callas
Alfredo Germont: Francesco Albanese
Giorgio Germont: Ugo Savarese
Flora Bervoix: Ede Marietti Gandolfo
Annina: Ines Marietti
Gastone: Mariano Caruso
Il barone Douphal: Alberto Albertini
Il marchese d’Obigny: Mario Zorgniotti
Il dottore Grenvil: Mario Zorgniotti
Giuseppe: Tommaso Soley