Maria Callas, Philharmonia Orchestra, Alceo Galliera - Rossini: Il barbiere di Sivigli (1957/2014) [HDTracks]

Recorded: 7–14.II.1957, Kingsway Hall, London.

Although the bel canto roles of Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti, which Maria Callas had studied in depth with Elvira de Hidalgo at the Athens Conservatory, would form the heart of her repertoire at the turn of the 1950s, Rossini was to come a distant third compared to Bellini (Norma was the role she played most often on stage) and Donizetti (Lucia di Lammermoor being fourth in that list). The first Rossini opera in which Callas took part was Il turco in Italia (Rome, 1950), in which she, a singer known for her portrayals of tragic heroines, revealed a comic gift that left its mark. After that came the 1952 revival in Florence of a forgotten opera seria, Armida. There, pitted against four tenors, she gave the most breathtaking demonstration of bravura singing imaginable. 1955 saw a reprise of Il turco, at La Scala, in a new production by Franco Zeffirelli, and that was followed in February 1956 by a much-criticised staging of Il barbiere di Siviglia.
A range of problems beset Il barbiere – to begin with, it was a stock, old-fashioned production. Then, on a programming level, the five performances of Barbiere were in effect smothered by the revival of Luchino Visconti’s celebrated 1955 production of La traviata: just imagine Callas making her debut as Rosina having sung Violetta the night before! Preserved on disc, the premiere of Barbiere reveals an acrobatic and highly charged Callas, at the heart of a cast where everyone seems to be overplaying – Carlo Maria Giulini was apparently in command of his orchestra but not, perhaps, his singers. In a London studio the following year, by contrast, Alceo Galliera conducted Callas in a version exemplary for its discipline. EMI producer Walter Legge considered this recording one of the singer’s best. Brimming with charming impudence (‘Una voce poco fa’) or anger (a heartbreaking ‘Indietro, anima scellerata!’), Callas’s lively Rosina has a lightness of touch and perfect musicality, the singer here truly finding her place within the role and within the cast, while the drama unfolds with irresistible humour and sparkling wit: a miracle of freshness, harmony and balance.

Tracklist:

Gioachino Rossini 1792–1868

Il barbiere di Siviglia
Opera in two acts · Libretto: Cesare Sterbini after Beaumarchais
01 Sinfonia (Orchestra) 6.42
ACT ONE
Scene One
02 Piano, pianissimo, senza parlar (Fiorello/Coro/Conte) 2.55
03 Ecco ridente in cielo (Conte) 4.10
04 Ehi, Fiorello? 1.05
05 Mille grazie, mio signore (Conte/Fiorello/Coro) 1.56
06 Gente indiscreta! (Conte/Fiorello/Figaro) 0.33
07 La ran la le ra, la ran la la. Largo al factotum (Figaro) 4.40
08 Ah, che bella vita! (Figaro/Conte) 3.44
09 Se il mio nome saper voi bramate (Conte/Rosina/Figaro) 2.55
10 Oh, cielo! 0.59
11 All’idea di quel metallo (Conte/Figaro) 8.08

Scene Two beginning
12 Una voce poco fa (Rosina) 6.19
13 Sì, sì, la vincerò (Rosina/Figaro) 1.18
14 Ah, disgraziato Figaro! (Bartolo/Rosina/Berta/Ambrogio) 0.54
15 Ah! Barbiere d’inferno (Bartolo/Basilio) 1.51
16 La calunnia è un venticello (Basilio) 3.38
17 Ah! Che ne dite? (Bartolo/Basilio) 0.32
18 Ma bravi! Ma benone! 2.19
19 Dunque io son (Figaro/Rosina) 5.06
20 Ora mi sento meglio (Rosina/Bartolo) 1.23
21 A un dottor della mia sorte (Bartolo) 5.00

Scene Two conclusion
22 Finora in questa camera (Berta/Conte) 0.31
23 Ehi, di casa, buona gente (Conte/Bartolo/Rosina/Berta/Basilio) 8.30
24 Che cosa accadde, signori miei 3.39
(Conte/Bartolo/Rosina/Berta/Basilio/Figaro/Coro/Ufficiale)
25 Fredda ed immobile (Rosina/Conte/Bartolo/Figaro/Basilio/Berta) 3.02
26 Ma signor...ma un dottor (Bartolo/Coro/Rosina/Basilio/Berta/Conte/Figaro) 4.37

ACT TWO
27 Ma vedi il mio destino! (Bartolo) 0.46
28 Pace e gioia sia con voi 2.27
29 Insomma, mio signore, chi è lei? (Conte/Bartolo) 2.19
30 Venite, signorina (Bartolo/Rosina/Conte) 0.42
31 Contro un cor che accende amore (Rosina/Conte) 5.55
32 Bella voce! Bravissima! (Conte/Rosina/Bartolo) 0.35
33 Quando mi sei vicina (Bartolo) 0.56
34 Bravo, signor barbiere, ma bravo! (Bartolo/Figaro/Rosina/Conte) 2.42
35 Don Basilio!... Cosa veggo! (Rosina/Conte/Figaro/Bartolo/Basilio) 4.01
36 Buona sera, mio signore 5.16
37 Che vecchio sospettoso! (Berta) 0.29
38 Il vecchiotto cerca moglie (Berta) 3.20
39 Temporale (Orchestra) 2.49
40 Alfine eccoci qua (Figaro/Conte/Rosina) 1.02
41 Ah, qual colpo inaspettato! (Rosina/Figaro/Conte) 5.46
42 Ah, disgraziati noi! (Figaro/Conte/Rosina/Basilio/Bartolo/Ufficiale) 1.31
43 Insomma io ho tutti i torti (Bartolo/Figaro/Conte/Rosina) 0.44
44 Di sì felice innesto (Figaro/Bartolo/Basilio/Berta/Coro/Rosina/Conte) 2.07

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Maria Callas, soprano (Rosina)
Tito Gobbi, baritone (Figaro)
Luigi Alva, tenor (Almaviva)
Fritz Ollendorf, bass (Bartolo)
Nicola Zaccaria, bass (Basilio)
Gabriella Carturan, mezzo-soprano (Berta)
Mario Carlin, tenor (Fiorello)
Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus
Alceo Galliera, conductor