Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Sinfonia
2. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act One - Scene One: Che? Quando gi� corona Amor
3. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act One - Scene One: O Amore, vieni a me!
4. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act One - Scene One: No, non temer
5. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act One - Scene One: O bella Glauce
6. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act One - Scene One: Colco! Pensier fatal!
7. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act One - Scene One: Or che pi� non vedr�
8. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act One - Scene One: Ah, gi� troppo turb�
9. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act One - Scene One: Pronube dive
10. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act One - Scene One: Signor! Ferma una donna
11. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act One - Scene One: Qui tremar devi tu
12. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act One - Scene One: Taci, Giason
13. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act One - Scene One: Dei tuoi figli la madre
14. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act One - Scene One: Son vane qui minacce
15. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act One - Scene One: Nemici senza cor

Disc 2:

1. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act Two: Introduzione
2. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act Two: Soffrir non posso
3. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act Two: Date almen per piet�
4. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act Two: Medea, o Medea!
5. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act Two: Solo un pianto con te versare
6. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act Two: Creonte a me solo un giorno d�?
7. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act Two: Figli miei, miei tesor
8. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act Two: Hai dato pronto ascolto
9. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act Two: Ah! Triste canto!... Dio dell'Amor!
10. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act Three: Introduzione
11. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act Three: Numi, venite a me
12. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act Three: Del fiero duo! che il cor mi frange
13. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act Three: Neris, che hai fatto
14. M�d�e (Medea), opera in 3 acts: Act Three: E che? lo son Medea!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #195586 in Music
• Released on: 1998-03-17
• Number of discs: 2

Customer Reviews

Overwhelming
This is one of Callas' most famous roles. Callas was born to play monumentally tragic, misunderstood characters such as the mythical Medea who was driven to such depths of despair by her husband's betrayal that she killed their joint children just to punish him. I do not imply any naive emotional parallels to Callas' own tragic and misunderstood life, but the strength of Callas' characterization of Medea in this opera is certainly remarkable. There are some surviving movie clips of Callas performing arias from Medea on stage. The effect of the soprano, one moment standing there dressed in a regular recital attire, and in another moment with the first bars of music suddently transforming herself into an ancient Greek woman possessed by fury and despondency, is indescribable.

P.S. There is another Medea - or rather Medee - a French baroque opera starring Lorraine Hunt, which features performances as fiery as this one, but whose music is perhaps of a higher order. Check it out.

I love this set
I love this set although you don't seem to have to look far to find plenty of people who rabbit on about this not being one of Callas's best studio recordings or best recordings of Medea. Pooh! I say, I reckon someone said that once & everyone's just jumped on the band wagon.

It is 1957, Callas's voice is great, very clean, her phrasing is as amazing as ever, diction terrific - not one missing consonant. The stereo sound captures the strings, the orchestra, the chorus terrifically - I love the overture to this opera, It always gives me goosebumps, and I defy anyone to listen to the final "E che? Io son Medea!" and not be thrilled.

Ok, there can be something extra special about Callas recorded live but that doesn't stop this from being a really enjoyable studio set & nicely free from all the extraneous noises that live versions invariably include.

Unfortunately, at the moment, it can be difficult to find a copy as it is one of the very few studio recordings of Callas not owned by EMI although it has been issued on their label under licence in 1990 & 1997. BMG (originally Ricordi) now have the copyright and have declined EMI's request to extend the licence. Apparently, BMG have said they wish to release a version themselves. This is some time ago and they have not delivered. (This information is courtesy of an email from EMI when I queried why it was missing from their current catalogue.)

I bought a 2nd hand set & it is great. If you can find one I recommend you do too.

To re-master or not to re-master. . .
I first owned this studio "Medea" in the dark ages of LP's and, though a Callas fan in alt, I must admit that I didn't much like it. I could understand people's objections: they were apparent simply by listening for myself. Then EMI released the performance on CD and some of the objections disappeared. Much of the shrillness and unsteadiness was gone; though, very strangely, there was little drama to be heard. True, everyone seemed to be singing with great intensity and conviction; but they seemed not to be singing *to* each other. There was no dramatic inter-relation between the singers, and the drama suffered accordingly. I played the set very seldom - only when I wanted an experience of better sound as opposed to the dramatically superior live performances [Florence & Milan '53, Dallas '58, London '59, Milan '61]. Then EMI re-mastered the set in their "Callas Edition" and achieved something of a miracle. How it can be so I suppose a sound engineer could say, but they managed not only to create more spacial depth both for orchestra and singers, but the singers now seem to be singing *to* each other and the increase in dramatic vitality is striking. I now play this "Callas Edition" set often and enjoy it in its own right. So - ignore the original reviews of this performace based on the LP issue and by all means find it, though admittedly this is difficult to do. But be sure to find it in the latest "Callas Edition" re-mastering. It's a revelation, and the result holds its place with the live performances. Though I don't always think EMI succeeded in their re-mastering of Callas' performances for their "Callas Edition" [personally I think they lost a bit of the fizz and charm in re-mastering her "Turco" and "Barbiere"], in the case of the studio "Medea" the results are wonderful indeed.