Maria Callas at Covent Garden 1962 & 1964 (DVD5)

It is a pity that so few recordings of Maria Callas in concert exist to leave the testimony of this genius of the singing and actor's play that she was. Only 5 recitals have been filmed (Paris 1958, Hamburg 1959 and 1962, Covent Garden 1962 and 1964), recorded on 3 DVD.
As promised, this is the 3rd (and last) DVD. Enjoy

No one sang Carmen or Tosca like Maria Callas and this DVD shows us exactly why.

This is a conflation of two rare televised appearances of Callas from Covent Garden. The first was filmed in 1962 and Callas is in surprisingly good voice, considering she had almost given up at this time (her only other appearances that year were a series of concerts - no stage appearances at all). The Verdi is sung with a wealth of detail and expression and she acts out all Elisabetta's emotions vividly, while hardly moving a muscle. Indeed she is so immersed in her singing that when a large brooch she is wearing dislodges and drops to the floor, she barely notices. She then changes completely into a playful, sexy and dangerous Carmen. What a pity she never wanted to sing the role on stage.
The second part of the DVD is a fully staged performance of Act2 of Tosca with Tito Gobbi and Renato Cioni. Why oh why didn't they have the forseight to film the whole thing? Still I guess we should be grateful for what we have. There are faults - the camera work isn't all it should be - but this is surely the most riveting perofrmance of this act ever committed to film. True, Callas was in better voice when she filmed this same Act in Paris a few years previously (some of the top notes are little better than screams), but who has, if ever, seen opera singers act with such naturalness and abandon. Both Callas and Gobbi are superb. You really forget they are singing and end up being totally drawn in to the performance of two actors.

November 4, 1962
Verdi: Don Carlo (Tu che le vanita)
Bizet: Carmen (Prélude)
Bizet: Carmen (Habanera)
Bizet: Carmen (Entracte)
Bizet: Carmen (Séguidille)

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Georges Prêtre, Conductor

February 9, 1964
Verdi: Tosca (Act II)

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Carlo Felice Gillario, Conductor

Tito Gobbi, Renato Cioni, Robert Bowman, Dennis Wicks

Directed by Franco Zefirelli