MARIA CALLAS

MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET

MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET
MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET
MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET
MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET
MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET
MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET
MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET
MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET
MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET
MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET
MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET
MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET
MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET
MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET
MARIA CALLAS - LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955 - 3-VINYL BOX SET

3-VINYL BOX SET

MARIA CALLAS

LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955

First edition limited to 5,000 copies

228,00€158,00€

RECORD 1 - DONIZETTI: LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR: ACT I

  1. Prelude
  2. Percorrete... Percorriamo le spiagge vicine
  3. Tu sei turbato!... E n’ho ben d’onde
  4. Cruda, funesta smania
  5. Il tuo dubbio è omai certezza.... Come vinti da stanchezza
  6. La pietade in suo favore
  7. Ancor no giunse?
  8. Regnava nel silence alta la notete e bruna
  9. Quando rapito in estasi
  10. Egli s’avanza...Lucia, perdona se ad ora inusitata
  11. Sulla tomba che rinserra il tradito genitore
  12. Qui di sposa eterna fede... Ah, soltanto il nostro foco
  13. Ah, talor del tuo pensiero venga un foglio messaggero
  14. Verranno a la te sull'aure i miei sospiri ardenti

RECORD 2 - DONIZETTI: LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR: ACT II

  1. Lucia fra poco a te verà... Tremante l'aspetto
  2. Appressati, Lucia... Il pallor funesto, orrendo
  3. Soffriva nel pianto... Un folle t'accese
  4. Che fia?... Suonar di giubilo
  5. Se tradirmi tu potrai... Tu che vedi il pianto mio
  6. Per te d’immenso giubilo...Per poco fra le tenebre sparì la vostra stella
  7. Dov'è Lucia?... Qui giungere or la vedrem
  8. Piange la madre estinta
  9. Chi mi frena in tal momento
  10. T'allontana, sciagurato... Rispettate in me di Dio
  11. Sconsigliato! In queste porte chi ti guida?
  12. Esci, fuggi, il furor che mi accende

RECORD 3 - DONIZETTI: LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR: ACT III

  1. D'immenso giubilo s'innalzi un grido
  2. Dalle stanze ove Lucia tratta avea col suo consorte
  3. Oh! Qual funesto avvenimento!
  4. Il dolce suono mi colpì di sua voce!...
  5. Ardon gli incensi
  6. Spargi d’amaro pianto
  7. Tombe of the avi miei
  8. Fra poco a me ricovero darà negletto avello
  9. Oh, meschina! Oh, fato orrendo!
  10. Tu che a Dio spiegasti l'ali

5000 copies

In May 2022, while we were working in the archives of the Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB), we came across the original tapes of this mythical recording made in 1955. It was certainly one of the most significant testimonies of the lyric art of the twentieth century: Lucia di Lammermoor, recorded during the performance of 29 September 1955 at the Städtische Oper Berlin, with a cast that included Di Stefano, Panerai, Karajan and Callas.

Despite the fact that the first forty seconds of the first tape had deteriorated, when we listened to the minutes of the recording that followed, we heard timbres with a richness and a dynamic that bore no comparison to other recordings that have been known until the present. 
It took four months of painstaking work to restore all the brilliance to the orchestra, to the Scala choir and to the legendary voices of this poignant slice of history and of music. 

We wanted to be able to release our first vinyl edition of the opera in a limited number of 5,000 on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Maria Callas. 

Kevin Gray made the cutting and the three records were pressed in our very own workshop in the south of France, MWP, to our usual stringent standards. 

We are very grateful to the RBB for their trust in us. We would also like to thank the Callas Foundation, which safeguards and promotes Callas’s legacy, and especially Tom Volf, for their help, as well as for the photographs they provided. 
Frédéric D'Oria-Nicolas
Founder and Director of The Lost Recordings



I have a very personal connection with Callas’s Lucia, for it is the first recording I heard of hers, more precisely the mad scene; hearing Callas’s voice and interpretation was like falling in love at first sight. This live recording is a wonderful example of what it felt like to hear Callas on stage, in a performance that became legendary.

Maria Callas said she “hated” recording for commercial (studio) releases and used to say that only live performances could convey her artistry in its full spectrum. In the later years of her life, she would collect her own pirate recordings and would often listen to performances such as this one. The best account of that comes from Robert Sutherland, her pianist during the last tour of concerts in 1973-74, who recalled the evenings spent at Callas’s apartment at Avenue Georges Mandel:

“We listened to a pirate recording of the Berlin Lucia. She remembered how Karajan angered the soloists by repeating the sextet without warning them. As we listened to the encore she said ‘You can hear how angry I was! And I still had the mad scene to sing! I told him afterwards at dinner that he dare not do that again on me or there would be trouble!’ We listened to the mad scene, an amazing performance. She was visibly impressed. ‘I don’t now how I did it. I just don’t know how - and to think that I wept after that performance because I thought I was so far off my aim.’ I had difficulty in expressing my reaction. Such a combination of controlled technical brilliance and artistic imagination was astounding. I attempted it with, ‘It’s marvellous singing…’ ‘Marvellous? Marvellous?’ She pulled herself up in the sofa. ‘It isn’t marvellous, it’s bloody miraculous!’”

Back at that time, pirate recordings circulated among avid admirers in the form of homemade LP’s, such as those released by the BJR label which is probably the one that Callas was listening to that night with Robert Sutherland. Today, however, we have to commend Frédéric D’Oria-Nicolas and The Lost Recordings for retrieving the original tapes in Berlin and meticulously restoring them to a quality of sound which surpasses any previous release, thus providing us with the most authentic rendition of that historical performance. Therefore it was only natural for the Callas Foundation to be associated with this publication, providing texts and images to illustrate the booklet and honour the memory of Maria Callas through this magnificent edition celebrating her 100th anniversary.

Tom Volf
President of the Maria Callas Foundation


Maria Callas, Lucia
Giuseppe Di Stefano, Edgardo
Rolando Panerai, Enrico
Nicola Zaccaria, Raimondo
Giuseppe Zampieri, Arturo
Luisa Villa, Alisa
Mario Carlin, Normanno

 

Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Milan

 

RIAS Symphonie-Orchester

 

Herbert von Karajan, Chef d'Orchestre

 


    Recorded on 29.IX.1955 at the Städtische Oper Berlin, Germany

    MONO © 1955 RBB
    Remastered ℗ & © 2023 THE LOST RECORDINGS


    1st hand-numbered edition, limited to 5000 copies
    No vinyl repress will be done
    Remastered from original analog tapes
    40 page booklet
    facsimile of the performance program
    Printed in Italy
    Pressed at Marciac Workshop Pressings, France
    33 rpm Lacquer-cuts: Kevin Gray
    Electroplating: Marciac Workshop Pressings
    180g triple-vinyl boxset

    Photos: © Maria Callas Foundation
    Texts: Anna Svenbro, Tom Volf, John Ardoin, Maria Callas, Robert Jacobson.



    *A 16-BIT DOWNLOAD CARD OF THE ALBUM IS INCLUDED WITH THE BOXSET.

    AN UNEQUALLED KNOW-HOW

    - Phoenix Mastering™ restoration from original analog tapes
    - Lacquer-Cuts by Kevin Gray
    - 180g test-pressings approving in our studios
    - New Stampers every 500 copies
    - Slow pressing cycle
    - Unequalled quality control in Europe
    - New Tip-on gatefold printed in Italy
    - Pressed by Simon Garcia, in France 🇫🇷

    DELIVERY & WARRANTY

    We ship our products worldwide with the utmost care. In the event of any damage during transport, we undertake to replace, at our exclusive expense, any products.

    Returns are accepted within 14 days of receipt of your order, however return costs are the responsibility of the customer.

    3 VINYL BOXSET

    MARIA CALLAS

    LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955

    MARIA CALLAS

    LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR • BERLIN 1955

    The story of this discovery

    "In May 2022, while working in the RBB archives, we discovered the original tapes of this legendary 1955 recording - undoubtedly one of the most important operatic testimonies of the 20th century: Lucia di Lammermoor, recorded in concert on September 29, 1955 at the Städtische Oper Berlin, featuring Di Stefano, Panerai, von Karajan and Callas.
    Although we note that the first few bars of Tape No. 1 have deteriorated, the minutes that follow reveal a richness of timbre and dynamics incomparable with the editions known to date.
    Four months of painstaking work were necessary to restore the full brilliance of the orchestra, the La Scala Chorus and the legendary voices of this moving piece of history and music."

    Frédéric D'ORIA-NICOLAS
    Musical treasure seeker

    Libération

    “From the silky timbre of the diva assoluta, to the astonishing presence of the orchestra, these splendidly edited vinyl and CD box sets sound like a revelation.”

    "To me, the art of music is magnificient and I cannot bear to see it treated in a shabby way"

    An unequalled sonic know-how.

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