Few of Maria Callas's performances were filmed, so these two gala concerts recorded at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1962 and 1964 are special. On 4 November 1962, it was before an excited audience that she appeared unexpectedly in a live television transmission of a concert with several other performers. She was in excellent vocal condition, which reassured her fans, who had heard rumors that she was vanishing from the stage to be with Aristotle Onassis or because her voice was failing. Callas sings "Tu che le vanita" from Verdi's Don Carlo and the flirtatious gypsy girl's role in the Habanera and the Seguedille from Bizet's Carmen. In 1963 Callas occasionally recorded for EMI in Paris, but her last triumph was her appearance in Puccini's Tosca at Covent Garden in 1964. The director was Franco Zeffirelli and singing in the role of Scarpia was baritone Tito Gobbi.
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Conductors: Georges Prêtre (1962), Carlo Felice Cillario (1962)
Stars: Maria Callas, Renato Cioni, Tito Gobbi.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0261048/
Owning this disc fulfils my desire to have the Tosca Act II footage, the only known opera performance footage of MC, in my collection. And although the video quality is lacking a little (I'm not bothered by b/w), I have no complaints about the audio.
The '62 performance is brief, only 3 arias, but the Tosca act is complete.
Gobbi is a terrific Scarpia: both dignified and sinister. (Having seen some alternate interpretations, I appreciate this more.)
The liner notes (required magnifying lens) stated this Zeffirelli production was a new interpretation of Tosca as young/innocent, where prior she had been a mature grand diva. So her dispatch of Scarpia seems more spontaneous and desperate. The acting is compelling and well filmed, a much better view than sitting in the opera house.
Rated 9.0 (66)
RoyalOpera, cond. Pretre & Cillario; 8+
