Fifty Shades of Great
Those crazy kids over at EMI Classics have followed up the ridiculous with the sublime: an mp3 download of 50 arias (over four hours of music) sung by Maria Callas for… are you ready? 99 cents.
It’s a limited time offer at Amazon.com, so get it now
Grr, I’m two days too late- only available in the US.
armer -- if you download the mp3 installer from amazon.co.uk, you can get twice as many arias for £4.99:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Maria-Callas-100-Best-Classics/dp/B001KOFGY0/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345242664&sr=301-1
ce qui n’est pas mal quand même.
Manou: you are a genius. Thank you!
Can you believe I’d never heard Callas sing ‘Spargi d’amaro pianto’ before? It’s… really quite good, isn’t it?
Tolerably…
Which one is it?
“Quite good” LOL, well it doesn’t compare with Peters’ or Moffo’s or Treb’s!
It’s “OK”
better listen either to the 1953 studio recording (which has the best voice pre diet) or the 1955 Karajan which has amazing legato, simply amazing.
There are quite a few firsts on here for me. I’d never heard her Prendi per mei (heartbreaking) or her Ancora un passo o via (….eh), this Je Suis Titania is by *far* the least annoying rendition of that aria that I’ve ever heard (she sounds so Lily Pons lyric here too! adorable).
I certainly don’t have anything new to add to insight into Callas’ voice but listening to all these I feel two things:
1. Either these are remastered poorly or the microphones were placed too close to her or something but the orchestras seem wan, too soft I don’t know.
2. I’ll never cease to marvel at how clearly the words sound (even not knowing them I almost feel like I’m speaking the language with her, yeah I know its crazy) but is this also why her voice doesn’t really open up beautifully on top? The top always sounds, I want to say “pinched” but I’m sure that’s wrong. That bothers me somewhat more than the wobble actually.
3. Oh if only Callas were around during the Baroque revival of today (look we want her singing everything) but I *love* this J’ai perdu mon Eurydice, her chest voice sounds wonderfully masculine. This is the perfect thing for a Friday night in sick, thanks La Cieca.
Thank you so much! The selection is fantastic -- especially the Turco in Italia arias. dat legato..
Also, funny detail, the album cover says ‘Casta Diva’ right above ‘Maria,’ which is strange, since the aforementioned bel canto national anthem is absent from the collection. Not complaining though; Divinites Du Styx is all the pagan invocation I need to be happy
Can somebody tell me if Amazon is trying to include a negative option fee-based service in their terms of use when attempting to purchase this? I got lost in all the legalese.
Is there an expiration date to this discount? The US-only restriction is rather annoying!
Thanks so much! This was my first Amazon down load and I am thrilled. Now Maria is trilling along, bringing sunshine into what looks like an otherwise dreary gray day!
Can’t believe an hr has passed and I am still enthralled….thanks again!
Wow. That was an amazing deal. Thank you for alerting us about it La Cieca. One click purchasing made it so easy
Nothing here that I don’t own and have downloaded already . . .