Warner Classics are following up their widely acclaimed remastering of the singer’s complete studio recordings with the Maria Callas Live edition. Marking 40 years since Maria’s Callas death, the deluxe 42-CD box set brings together her live opera and recital recordings, including precious recordings of 12 roles she only ever undertook onstage. These 20 complete operas and five complete filmed recitals – also available as digital downloads, through streaming services, and on Blu-ray – have been newly remastered from the highest quality source material, using the cutting-edge technology of Studio Art et Son in Paris.

Warner’s announcement will be a welcome one for fans of the legendary soprano, whose live output encompassing some of her most striking performances has been marred by poor sound quality and unclean transfers. For Callas aficionados, the most exciting recordings to be remastered must include the 1949 Nabucco, with Callas in rock solid, huge voice; the 1951 Aida, infamous for her astounding high E Flat at the conclusion of the Triumphal scene; the 1952 Macbeth, one of her most assured interpretations for which she gave only a number of performances; the 1957 Anna Bolena; and the near-legendary 1958 Lisbon Traviata. Rarity hunters will doubtless be delighted to find the 1950 Rome Parsifal, Callas’s only recording of a complete Wagner opera.

Like the earlier Callas Remastered, Maria Callas Live boasts a handsome box set containing a 200-page hardback book featuring essays, a biography, and timeline, as well as rare archival photographs of the singer onstage. The cover art of each album is an iconic photo of Callas in the corresponding performance.

The full list of operas is as follows:

Verdi: Nabucco (2CD)

Vittorio Gui (Gino Bechi, Amalia Pini, Gino Sinimberghi)

20/12/1949 · Napoli, Teatro San Carlo

Wagner: Parsifal (3CD/sung in Italian)

Vittorio Gui (Rolando Panerai, Africo Baldelli, Boris Christoff)

20-21/11/1950 · Rome, Auditorium della Rai

Verdi: I vespri siciliani (3CD)

Erich Kleiber (Giórgios Kokoliós-Bardi, Enzo Mascherini, Boris Christoff)

26/05/1951 · Firenze, Comunale

Verdi: Aida (2CD)

Oliviero de Fabritiis (Mario del Monaco, Oralia Domínguez, Giuseppe Taddei)

03/07/1951 · Mexico, Palacio de Bellas Artes

Rossini: Armida (2CD)

Tullio Serafin (Francesco Albanese, Mario Filippeschi, Alessandro Ziliani)

26/04/1952 · Firenze, Comunale

Verdi: Rigoletto (2CD)

Umberto Mugnai (Giuseppe di Stefano, Piero Campolonghi, Ignacio Ruffino)

17/06/1952 · México, Palacio de Bellas Artes

Bellini: Norma  (2CD)

Vittorio Gui (Mirto Picchi, Ebe Stignani, Giacomo Vaghi)

18/11/1952 · London, Royal Opera House

Verdi: Macbeth (2CD)

Victor de Sabata (Enzo Mascherini, Italo Tajo, Gino Penno)

07/12/1952 · Milano, Teatro alla Scala

Cherubini: Medea (2CD)

Leonard Bernstein (Gino Penno, Maria Luisa Nache, Giuseppe Modesti)

10/12/1953 · Milano, Teatro alla Scala

Gluck: Alceste (2CD)

Carlo Maria Giulini  (Renato Gavarini, Paolo Silveri, Rolando Panerai)

04/04/1954 · Milano, Teatro alla Scala

Spontini: La vestale (2CD)

Antonino Votto (Franco Corelli, Enzo Sordello, Nicola Rossi Lemeni)

07/12/1954 · Milano, Teatro alla Scala

Giordano: Andrea Chénier (2CD)

Antonino Votto (Mario del Monaco, Aldo Protti, Maria Amadini)

08/01/1955 · Milano, Teatro alla Scala

Bellini: La Sonnambula (2CD)

Leonard Bernstein (Cesare Valletti, Giuseppe Modesti, Gabriella Carturan)

05/03/1955 · Milano, Teatro alla Scala

Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor (2CD)

Herbert von Karajan (Giuseppe di Stefano, Rolando Panerai, Nicola Zaccaria)

29/09/1955 · Berlin, Städtische Oper

Donizetti: Anna Bolena (2CD)

Gianandrea Gavazzeni (Gianni Raimondi, Nicola Rossi Lemeni, Giulietta Simionato)

14/04/1957 · Milano, Teatro alla Scala

Gluck: Ifigenia in Tauride (2CD)

Nino Sanzogno (Francesco Albanese, Anselmo Colzani, Fiorenza Cossotto)

01/06/1957 · Milano, Teatro alla Scala

Verdi: La traviata (2CD)

Franco Ghione (Alfredo Kraus, Mario Sereni, Laura Zannini)

27/03/1958 · Lisboa, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos

Bellini: Il pirata  (2CD)

Nicola Rescigno (Pier Miranda Ferraro, Costantino Ego, Glade Peterson)

27/01/1959 · New York, Carnegie Hall

Donizetti: Poliuto (2CD)

Antonino Votto (Franco Corelli, Ettore Bastianini, Nicola Zaccaria)

07/12/1960 · Milano, Teatro alla Scala

Puccini: Tosca (2CD)

Carlo Felice Cillario (Tito Gobbi)

24/01/1964 · London, Royal Opera House.


Maria Callas Live will be released on September 15, 2017.

Read our review of Callas Remastered here.

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