Amilcare Ponchielli Antonino Votto La Scala Theater Orchestra amp Chorus - Ponchielli La Gioconda complete opera with Maria Callas Fiorenza Cossotto Antonino Votto Orchestra Chorus of La Scala Milan (51 tracks) +Album Reviews

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Ponchielli: La Gioconda (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Fiorenza Cossotto, Antonino Votto, Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala, Milan

Amilcare Ponchielli, Antonino Votto, La Scala Theater Orchestra & Chorus
Ponchielli: La Gioconda (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Fiorenza Cossotto, Antonino Votto, Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala, Milan
Genre: Classical

Track Listings (15) - Disc #1
1. La Gioconda: Preludio
2. La Gioconda: Act 1 - Feste E Pane! (Barnaba)
3. La Gioconda: Act 1 - E Cantan Su Lor Tombe! (Barnaba) (Gioconda)
4. La Gioconda: Act 1 - Figlia, Che Reggi Il Tremulo Pie (Cieca) (Gioconda) (Barnaba)
5. La Gioconda: Act 1 - L'ora Non Giunse Ancor Del Vespro Santo (Gioconda) (Barnaba) (Cieca)
6. La Gioconda: Act 1 - Polso Di Cerro! (Barnaba) (Cieca)
7. La Gioconda: Act 1 - Suo Covo E Un Tugurio (Barnaba) (Cieca) (Gioconda) (Enzo) (Laura)
8. La Gioconda: Act 1 - Che? La Plebe Or Qui I Arroga (Alvise) (Gioconda) (Laura) (Barnaba) (Enzo)
9. La Gioconda: Act 1 - Voce Di Donna O D'angelo (Cieca) (Laura) (Gioconda) (Alvise) (Barnaba)
10. La Gioconda: Act 1 - Enzo Grimaldo, Principe Di Santafior, Che Pensi?
11. La Gioconda: Act 1 - O Grido Di Quest'anima (Barnaba) (Enzo)
12. La Gioconda: Act 1 - Maledici? Sta Ben...L'amor T'accieca (Barnaba) (Gioconda)
13. La Gioconda: Act 1 - O Monumento! (Barnaba)
14. La Gioconda: Act 1 - Carneval! Baccanal!
15. La Gioconda: Act 1 - Angele Dei (Gioconda) (Cieca)
Track Listings (15) - Disc #2
1. La Gioconda: Act 2 - Ho! He! Ho! He! Fissa Il Timone!
2. La Gioconda: Act 2 - Prescator, Affonda L'esca (Barnaba)
3. La Gioconda: Act 2 - Prescator, Affonda L'esca (Barnaba)
4. La Gioconda: Act 2 - Sia Gloria Ai Canti Dei Naviganti! (Enzo)
5. La Gioconda: Act 2 - Cielo E Mar! (Enzo)
6. La Gioconda: Act 2 - Ma Chi Vien? (Enzo) (Barnaba) (Laura)
7. La Gioconda: Act 2 - Laggiu Nelle Nebbie Remote
8. La Gioconda: Act 2 - E Il Tuo Nocchiere Or La Fuga T'appresta (Enzo) (Laura)
9. La Gioconda: Act 2 - Stella Del Marinar! (Laura)
10. La Gioconda: Act 2 - E Un Anatema!
11. La Gioconda: Act 2 - La Attesi E Il Tempo Colsi
12. La Gioconda: Act 2 - L'amo Come Il Fulgor Del Creato!
13. La Gioconda: Act 2 - Il Mio Braccio T'affera! (Gioconda) (Laura)
14. La Gioconda: Act 2 - Maledizion! Ha Presto Il Vol! (Barnaba) (Gioconda) (Enzo)
15. La Gioconda: Act 2 - Vedi La, Nel Canal Morto (Gioconda) (Enzo)
Track Listings (21) - Disc #3
1. La Gioconda: Act 3 - Scene 1 - Si! Morir Ella De'!
2. La Gioconda: Act 3 - Scene 1 - Ombre Di Mia Prosapia (Alvise)
3. La Gioconda: Act 3 - Scene 1 - Qui Chiamata M'avete? ...Bella Cosi, Madonna
4. La Gioconda: Act 3 - Scene 1 - Morir! E Troppo Orribile! (Laura) (Alvise)
5. La Gioconda: Act 3 - Scene 1 - La Gaia Canzone (Alvise) (Gioconda) (Laura)
6. La Gioconda: Act 3 - Scene 1 - O Madre Mia, Nell'isola Fatale (Gioconda)
7. La Gioconda: Act 3 - Scene 2 - Benvenuti Messeri! Andrea Sagredo! (Alvise)
8. La Gioconda: Act 3 - Scene 2 - Grazie Vi Rendo Per Le Vostre Laudi (Alvise)
9. La Gioconda: Act 3 - Scene 2 - Prodigio! Incanto!
10. La Gioconda: Act 3 - Scene 2 - Vieni!...Lasciami!
11. La Gioconda: Act 3 - Scene 2 - Gia Ti Veggo Immota E Smorta (Barnaba) (Cieca) (Alvise) (Enzo) (Gioconda)
12. La Gioconda: Act 4 - Nessun V'ha Visto? (Gioconda)
13. La Gioconda: Act 4 - Suicidio! (Gioconda)
14. La Gioconda: Act 4 - Ecco, Il Velen Di Laura (Gioconda) (Enzo)
15. La Gioconda: Act 4 - Ridarti Il Sol, La Vita! (Gioconda) (Enzo)
16. La Gioconda: Act 4 - O Furibonda Jena (Enzo) (Gioconda) (Laura)
17. La Gioconda: Act 4 - Ten Va Serenata (Gioconda) (Enzo) (Laura)
18. La Gioconda: Act 4 - La Barca S'avvicina (Gioconda)
19. La Gioconda: Act 4 - Quest'ultimo Bacio Che Il Pianto (Gioconda) (Laura) (Enzo)
20. La Gioconda: Act 4 - Ora Posso Morir. Tutto E Compiuto
21. La Gioconda: Act 4 - Vo' Farmi Piu Gaia, Piu Fulgida Ancora (Gioconda) (Barnaba)

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CD Details

All Artists: Amilcare Ponchielli, Antonino Votto, La Scala Theater Orchestra & Chorus, Maria Callas, Aldo Biffi, Piero Cappuccilli, Irene Companez, Fiorenza Cossotto, Renato Ercolani, Pier Miranda Ferraro, Carlo Forti, Bonaldo Giaiotti, Leonardo Monreale, Ivo Vinco
Title: Ponchielli: La Gioconda (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Fiorenza Cossotto, Antonino Votto, Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala, Milan
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: EMI Classics
Release Date: 8/19/1997
Genre: Classical
Styles: Opera & Classical Vocal, Historical Periods, Modern, 20th, & 21st Century
Number of Discs: 3
SwapaCD Credits: 3
UPCs: 724355629128, 724355629159

Synopsis

Amazon.com essential recording

The mercilessly self-critical Maria Callas considered her singing in the last act here among the most satisfying of her records, saying that "it's all there for anyone who cares to understand or wishes to know what I was about." "Suicidio" emerges less a histrionic soliloquy than an interior, multi- dimensional monologue. Moreover, the soprano is in better voice than her 1952 Cetra Gioconda, which, however, boasts a more vibrant supporting cast, greater energy from the podium (especially in the first act), and avoids a small but not insignificant cut Antonino Votto makes here in the final act. EMI furnishes full texts and translations, an excellent essay that places this recording in context, and excellent remastered sonics. --Jed Distler

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CD Reviews

The final great recording.

Boz | 07/21/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An old saying goes,"Before the candle flickers out, it flares for one more magnificent moment". This is Callas' last great moment, and it it truly magnificent. Incandescent, searing, and unforgettable. A must-have recording."

Great Gioconda and a deaf fan from S.F. ! ! !

P. Emilio Rossi | Caracas, Venezuela | 11/20/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Callas, was the first and more splendid Gioconda. The role of Gioconda needs a great low notes, colorature for the last act, and great expression. In Callas all this requisites are completed. Nobody other soprano sing this role as Callas. I am really surprised for the fan of San Francisco. He is deaf ! ! ! All the passion and tragedy are insuperables with Callas. The Gioconda was not a great role of Renata Scotto (Great Lucia and Butterfly). All the musical critics in the world recognize this interpretation as the most complete. The Caballe and Milanov (great voices) had very weak low notes and low expressivity.The other singers of the cast are very suitables (in special mode Cossotto and Cappucilli). The only disaster here is the fan of San Francisco ! ! !"

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST OPERAS SUNG BY CALLAS

Mario Gonzalez Dorado | 11/05/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I think that Maria Callas is the best singer of all the times when she sings this opera. This opera is worth listening again and again, because there are so many things to talk about. The singing but also the acting (the acting by the voice, that is so important), the opera itself, the dramma which lives here, in this box. Open it, put the CDs in your CD recorder, and enjoy what I think is one of the masterpieces that Callas left to us. Wonderful!"

Flawless Gioconda by a tormented artist

Ramona | 10/29/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"La Gioconda was Callas' debut in Italy, back in 1947 in Verona with the then unknown Richard Tucker. It was then and there that Tullio Serafin, this greatest of all "Singer's conductors" saw the great gift behind the shy and young Maria Callas. He invited her to do thr great Wagner-roles with him in Italy and they once performed a miracle, namely that Callas sang the Wagner-Brünnhilde (Walkuere) and Elvira (I Puritani!) in the same week. It was unheard of, impossible... Yet she made it possible. Now what about La Gioconda? I remember listening to Rosa Ponselle's "Suicido" and thinking: What a voice! What an artist! (Ponselle was, in Callas' opinion, the greatest of them all!) Then I heard Callas singing the same lines with those incredible chest-notes where she sounds like a natural contralto! THEN I realised all this was about suicide, about love! Listen to her in the final act, Callas said that anyone who wanted to know what she was about should listen to this. I did. And my heart bled. Not because she wasn't wonderful but because this voice which so many had called ugly was so hauntingly beautiful. There are but a few things that I know to be true but if there's one thing I DO know is that Callas will be worshipped by generations to come.

As for Renata Scotto as Gioconda, pointed out by a horrible basher from California: Scotto becan as a light lyric, listen to her in "La Straniera" for example. Her Gilda, Lucia and Amina are as gorgeous as can be. As far as the drama goes her Adriana, Violetta, Butterfly, Desdemona, Maddalena and Tosca are great. Yet, there's something that Tebaldi disliked about her tackling roles that only spintos and dramatic sopranos can do justice to, these being Elisabetta, Gioconda, Lady Macbeth etc. Not to say that all these aren't amazing but while Callas was a "natural" in these, Scotto had to fight and strain herself to sing these roles. Yet, I love this woman in anything she does and seeing her live as Fedora was a great night, just to give you one example. Scotto called Callas her "unequalled role-model" quoting the fabulous Leonie Rysanek who said the same and who was a divine Gioconda herself."

CALLAS CARRIES THE SHOW

L. Mitnick | Chicago, Illinois United States | 07/12/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This recording was done in September, 1959, when Callas was right in the middle of the marital quadrangle with Aristotle Onasis. She had just ended her marriage and was all over the front pages of the newspapers. It is amazing, that in the midst of all of this media frenzy, Callas was able to go into La Scala and record such a performance as that heard here. Callas is in thrilling vocal condition here, and she creates a vivid and compelling characterization of the tormented street singer. There are actually a few instances when her top notes are more secure than they were on her earlier 1952 recording (!) Unfortunately, Callas had to carry much of this performance by herself. Fiorenza Cossotto, certainly a great mezzo, is heard at the very beginning of her career, and the power and authority she later acquired is not very evident here, though she certainly sings well. Also, an equally youthful Piero Cappuccilli provides a somewhat non-menacing Barnaba, though the potential of his voice is certainly obvious (like Cossotto, he also went on to a great career in Europe). Ivo Vinco is a sonorous Alvise. The real weakness in this cast, however, is the tenor Pier Miranda Ferraro, who never really "made it". His singing is merely adequate, but in the company of Callas and even the very young Cossotto and Cappuccilli, it comes off as less than even that.

The stereo sound here is very good, and the sound balances are excellent. I cannot give this recording an unqualified rave (due to the weakness of the tenor, and to a lesser extent, the work of Cossotto and Cappuccilli, both for whom the best work was still in the future), but Callas' performance is so outstanding, and her singing so persuasive that it washes away all else."