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OZartsreview |
| Australia's online independent specialist music review journal | |
2001 |
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OZartsreview |
| Australia's online independent specialist music review journal | |
2001 |
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Maria Callas Reviewed by Neville Cohn |
MARIA CALLAS (soprano) |
| EMI has brought out a 2-CD pack devoted to arias sung by Maria Callas, performances which reinforce a long-held view that although not possessed of a classically beautiful voice, Callas, to a degree unequalled and never surpassed, has the ability to convey the dramatic essence of whatever she sings. There is such intensity of expression, so acute a focus on the meaning of what is being sung, that vocal loveliness (for want of a better word), becomes a secondary consideration. Indeed, at times it is almost entirely abandoned as a performing tool in favour of verismo - truth. And whatever one might think of Callas' vocal qualities - top notes in "Caro Nome" from Verdi's Rigoletto sound pinched, abrasive and screechy - few, I suggest, would dispute that as a vocal actress, she was without peer. Hauteur, hatred, defiance, fear, vengeance, terror - emotions often reinforced by an underlying current of hysteria - would make Callas' interpretations rivetting. In "Quelle trine morbide" from Puccini's Manon Lescaut, for instance, despite ugly top notes, is deeply touching, singing of genuine pathos. And much of a generous 147 minutes - 34 tracks in all - is vintage Callas. For those who seek purity of tone as a listening prerequisite, these are not the CDs for them. But for listeners for whom dramatic truth matters, these performances will satisfy. Time has not dulled these extraordinary interpretations; they are likely to be a long-enduring listening legacy | |
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