Search - Giuseppe Verdi, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, La Scala Theater Orchestra :: Verdi: Un ballo in maschera

THE BEST PRESSING OF THIS PERFORMANCE AROUND

L. Mitnick | Chicago, Illinois United States | 11/25/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This live La Scala "Ballo in Maschera" opened the 1957-1958 La Scala season and has been in circulation on various pirate labels for years. EMI "legalized" it a while back and it sounded reasonably good. But this Myto pressing is much better on all counts. Callas is fabulous here --- not only creating a supercharged and intense Amelia, but producing some of the greatest singing of her career. Rarely have I heard her produce such smooth and faultless top C's. Giuseppe di Stefano is every bit as wonderful, singing lyrically, and with great style. Both he and Callas are in much better and exciting voice than they were a year and a half before on the EMI studio recording.

Ettore Bastinini is an excellent Renato, and his "Eri tu" ranks with the best Italian baritones, among which he certainly was. The Ulrica of Gulietta Simionato is spookier and far more intense here than it was to be a few years later when she recorded the role on the London/Solti set with Nilsson and Bergonzi. OK---- the performance is outstanding, but what REALLY amazes me is the improvement in the sound. I don't know where Myto got it's pressing from, but it's far and away the best I've heard. To my ears, it's as though it were a state-of-the-art monaural recording made in a studio. If you already own this performance on EMI or Opera d'Oro, it may seem an extravagance to purchase this one, but the sound on this Myto pressing is so far superior to either one of those that it's really worth it.,

This should not be passed over."