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Verdi: Un Ballo In Maschera (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Antonino Votto, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, Milan

from: EMI Classics

Release Date August 19, 1997
Apart from being heavily filtered and losing the "bloom" of the original recording that was nicely captured in the first CD re-issuse, there is music missing from this issue. A brief but IMPORTANT omission.

There should be 3 fortissimo chords beginning Act1, scene 2 (Ulrica's den, track 10). Unfortunately here there are only 2 chords. This may seem persnickety, but in fact to this or any "Ballo" lover it will be very unsettling, when one knows this opera thoroughly and has been listening to this or any other recording of same opera for 30 of 40 years, one knows bodily, instinctually, to expect those 3 FATEFUL chords before the cellos intone their ominous lament.

EMI has inadvertently cut off the opening 1 of the 3 ... Read More: