Maria Callas as Kundry

Maria Callas as Kundry in act two of Parsifal under Vittorio Gui, Rome 1950. Africo Beldelli and Giuseppe Modesti complete the cast. Collectors all wish to have the rumored complete Tristan und Isolde, but I have added an early recording of the Liebestod  (60 min.)

Direct download: Callas_Kundry_act_2.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 10:43pm EDT

Christa Ludwig Rarities

The remarkable Christa Ludwig selections from:

Cenerentola (1959) from Vienna, under Alberto Erede

Lohengrin (1967) with Ingrid Bjoener,Walter Berry, under Karl Boehm

Don Carlo (1967)  under Berislav Klobucar

Aida (1970) with Richard Tucker, under Fausto Cleva

Mahler's Kindertotenlieder (1967) under Loren Maazel

                               (73 min.)


Direct download: Ludwig_Oddities.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 9:18pm EDT

Licia Albanese in Mme.Butterfly

The legendary Licia Albanese, now over 100 years of age, sings one of her great roles, a Mme.Butterfly from 1941 under Gennaro Papi. Completing the cast are Armand Tokatyan, Lucille Browning, John Brownlee, and Allesio de Paolis. Bless this great artist!  (73 min.)

Direct download: Butterfly2_Licia.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 5:09pm EDT

What can be more heartwarming than to see the retirn, in Genoa, of the wonderful Aprile Millo in "Il Tabarro."?  She has retained the beauty of tone, and the kind of Italianate style that is rare today.(Not to mention the optional high C in the aria.).

 All these years,she has been so loving and kind to me and I am so happy for her!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 9:38am EDT

Les Contes D'Hoffmann w.Simoneau

   Leopold Simoneau sang so briefly at the Met, and it is a shame,because it was a really beautiful voice. In this Hoffmann from Vienna, 1954, under Lee Schaenen, Simoneau is joined by his wife Pierette Alarie as Olympia, with Suzanne Danco as Giulietta,Antonia, and the Muse. The great George London sings the villains, with Dezso Ernster as Crespel, Renato Cesari as Schlemil, Renato Capecchi as Spalanzani, and Robert Destain in the comic roles.  (73 min.)

Direct download: Hoffmann_Simon.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 6:34pm EDT

   Claudia Muzio was so famous for her Traviata Letter..and to celebrate her birthday on Friday, Feb.7, we present the great Mari Lyn, who follows in her great tradition..and her TraviYENTA has caused many people to commit SUICIDIO!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 9:10pm EDT

 WHY do they do not do this opera?? Maybe because Virginia is not around...Note act two love duet..it is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   I am upset..i never hear my own tapes!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 1:30pm EDT

Act three Butterfly scenes with my darling "sister" Virginia Zeani!!!!!!

Category:general -- posted at: 12:53pm EDT

Giuseppe Taddei

 That warm,emotional voice of baritone Giuseppe Taddei is heard in arias and songs. The man was a special artist, one of the greats.

Arias are from:  Favorita, Ballo, Don Carlo, Vespri, Andrea Chenier, Adriana Lecouvreur, L'Arlesiana.

The songs are: Santa Lucia Luntana, Dicitincello vuie, Voce 'e notte, Senza nisciuno, Marechiare, Napule canta, Passione, I te vurria vasa', Pecche.     (66 min.)

Direct download: Taddei.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 3:17pm EDT

 It is most appropriate, on Martina Arroyo's birthday (Feb.2), to begin to celebrate Black History Month, and also to relate some of my past experiences with Afro-American artists.
          Sadly, not until Marian Anderson's 1955 Met debut as Ulrica (which was one of my most thrilling experiences, as that curtain rose and the audience cheered), Afro-American artists did not sing at the Met. I was able to hear Lawrence Winters, Adele Addison, and Camilla Williams at City Opera in the early 1950's, but imagine what other artists were lost to the Met earlier.
           Owing to the Marian Anderson breakthrough, Met audiences (myself included) were pleased to have heard such artists as Leontyne Price, Reri Grist, George Shirley, Gloria Davy, Mattiwilda Dobbs, Robert McFerrin, Leona Mitchell, Grace Bumbry, Simon Estes, Jessye Norman, and my all-time love, Shirley Verrett, etc.
             The unfortunate element of course, is that race prejudice denied many of the artists before Anderson an opportunity to be heard in the great Met, but at least Mr. Bing made the breakthrough, however late. We must be thankful at least for the precedent set by Mme.Anderson, and we owe much to her historic debut.
                                                                     Charlie
              

Category:general -- posted at: 10:44am EDT


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