Maria Callas: "Ah! Non giunge uman pensiero" Sonnambula Bellini, Köln '57

Maria Callas esegue "Ah, non giunge uman pensiero" dall'opera "La Sonnambula" di Vincenzo Bellini. Registrazione "live" del 4 luglio 1957, effettuata presso la Großes Haus Köln (Colonia, Germania). Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, diretti da Antonino Votto.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Maria
• Callas
• Sonnambula
• Bellini
• non
• giunge
• Votto
• Scala
• Großes
• Haus
• Köln
• 1957
• soprano
• belcantismo
• coloratura
• melodramma
• callasiani
• anticallas
• tebaldi
• tebaldiani
• divina

[65attila]

This is interesting but labored and the pace so slow as to acommodate Callas'

problem moving her voice.

[belcantismo]

@65attila I don't think so. It could be a director's choice, or a singer's choice to improve her wonderful acting.

[65attila]

@belcantismo

How does a slow tempo improve one's acting, Besides. Tempo is a singer/conductor choice and I bet Callas got the tempp she wanted? Callas simply could not move her voice easily and the slow tempo allowed her to take more breaths..

[belcantismo]

@65attila Again, I don't think so. About the slow tempo improving acting, is not a matter for everyone. I am referring to Maria Callas, nobody else.

[IshyIMB017]

Man, this is really good, but I still like Luisa Tetrazzinni´s version way better.

[belcantismo]

@IshyIMB017

I don't like nightingale's voices, with no acting at all.

[UrsulanChild]

I'm sorry...this is just one recording that I find addictive...I mean, tell me...HOW???? How'd she do that? Who else can do it? Has anyone else with the same vocal weight even tried, with even moderate success??? Diminuendo on a High E-flat with a 2-octave chromatic drop in one breath without missing a beat? Is it that we're not training our singers with utmost discipline anymore, or our generation isn't talented enough? Somebody, help me understand!!! Callas is the standard. Period.

[Shahrdad]

What she does in the cadenza alone is mind boggling. I have never heard anyone do a diminuendo on a high E-flat. Besides that, then she does a flawless two octave descending scale in her trademark "pearls falling off a string" way, and then goes back up in a series of turns, all in the same breath. And imagine that she was singing Medea, Norma, and Tosca during the same period!

[voizovrsn]

@65attila Yes, but its that very reason why she is so exciting!

[Corenero]

@colonia3059 Agreeee !!!!! I can't add anything, totally agree !!!

[calaftheeast]

I love hearing these arias in high quality from both Sutherland and Callas. Their voices are distinctly different, which gives a particular unique character to their individual performances. The same arias sound wonderfully different than each other when handled by the two greats. So masterful.

Had they sounded similar, then there would be no way of enjoying both.

[Tenortalker]

A staggering achievement moving her large voice like a diaphenous dancer around Bellini's trills and roulades. No mere fireworks, but all at the service of expression. No wonder she triumphed. We will never see her like again. Brava Beloved Maria Callas!

[Dianaemanuel]

It's interesting that someone posted a criticism of Kathleen Battle singing this aria saying that her top notes sounded forced. Having heard Battle live I can honestly say I never thought this to be so.

I've always thought Maria Callas was not a natural soprano and that the top notes always sounded like a struggle for her. However, despite that, she was such an incredible musician so you don't really care!

[colonia3059]

So funny and so ridiculous to read a person" EXPLAINING" to as all that the tempo of the cabaletta is (apparently) slow to ACCOMMODATE Callas voice's!!!

That said of a woman who is singing life, ornamenting over two and half octaves and singing a diminuendo on an Eflat!

Callas based her extraordinary carrier exactly MOVING her huge voice through the entire range.....

Beati noi!!!!

[gustopheles]

@belcantismo She may be an early-century nightingale, but she employs her chest register beautifully in this aria, even more than Callas. But you're right, Callas' interpretation is beyond compare.

[gustopheles]

@65attila Her chromatics are perfectly corrugated; she interpolates turns and flips and staccati, tossing them around like they are nothing; the impossible diminuendo on the high E flat is astonishing. Her phrasing and her vocal acting are beyond reproach. There are many recordings documenting her "problem moving her voice", but this is a showcase of Callas in the absolute prime of her skill.

Which is to say, you obviously don't know what you're talking about.

[voceangelo]

Callas had no problems moving her dramatic voice, as is evidenced by her roulade embellishment just before the choir came in on her "d'amor". If anyone else needs further proof of her ability to move her voice, please listen to her sing "D'amor al dolce impero" from Armida. Tempi choices are a CONDUCTOR'S decision. The singer and the conductor may meet at a happy medium, but ultimately, Maestro Votto had the final call on whether or not he wanted to take it a brisk Andante as he did here.

[alragarp]

Unica, insuperable.