CD-Charts Position 1
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Verdi: La Traviata (complete opera live 1955) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Carlo Maria Giulini, Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala, Milan

by: Giuseppe Verdi, Orchestra e coro del Teatro alla Scala, Carlo Maria Giulini, Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Ettore Bastianini, Silvio Maionica, Luisa Mandelli, Arturo La Porta

Release Date March 17, 1998
No one should consider doing a performance of Traviata without checking in with this recording first. The Callas interpretation is riveting with detail and color that stands alone. Di Stefano is young, exciting, and half crazed a great match for Callas. Bastianini is on the same level with the best of them. This is a recording you can listen to from beginning to end without boredom.
The traditional cuts are welcomed. Had Verdi composed this work 20 years later there would have been no excess. I think the cuts add focus to this masterpiece by trimming the fat. And remember this is from the mid 1950s and live. Leave the sound alone. A nice complete recording, if it exists, with Magda Olivero could have been a second choice.

CD-Charts Position 2
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Puccini: Tosca (complete opera) with Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Victor de Sabata, Chorus & Orchestra of La Scala, Milan

by: Giacomo Puccini, Victor De Sabata, Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Tito Gobbi, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala

Release Date August 19, 1997
This is much more than the best opera recording ever: it is the true expression of perfection.

CD-Charts Position 3
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Verdi - Simon Boccanegra / Freni, Cappuccilli, Carreras, Ghiaurov, van Dam, Foiani, Teatro alla Scala, Abbado

by: Giuseppe Verdi, Claudio Abbado, Mirella Freni, José Carreras, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Piero Cappuccilli, Nicolai Ghiaurov, José van Dam, Giovanni Foiani, Maria Fausta Gallamini

Release Date January 27, 1998
As usual, Claudio Abbado brings to life opera (particularly Verdi): DG version of Simon Boccanegra is truly among the best achievements in opera recordings, with its central Grand Council scene shining like a crown daimond of a great composer and a great conductor.
It is, truly, a must.

CD-Charts Position 4
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Bellini - Norma / Maria Callas, Ludwig, Corelli, Zaccaria, Teatro alla Scala, Serafin

by: Vincenzo Bellini, Tullio Serafin, Maria Callas, Christa Ludwig, Franco Corelli, Nicola Zaccaria, Piero de Palma

Release Date March 17, 1998
There is not much more that can be said about this recording. It is one of the finest performances on CD. The pairing of Callas and Corelli is one for the ages and results in a performance that will not be bettered. The other singers, especially Christa Ludwig, all add to the magnificence of the proceedings. Tullio Serafin directs it all demonstrating his great knowledge and experience with the score and his performers. Norma is one of most dramatic operas in the literature and Callas and Corelli are inspired playing off of each other in their roles. Although an older recording, the sound is excellent. This is opera at its best.

CD-Charts Position 5
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Verdi - Messa da Requiem / Studer, Zajick, Pavarotti, Ramey; Muti

by: Giuseppe Verdi, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Riccardo Muti, Luciano Pavarotti, Samuel Ramey, Cheryl Studer, Dolora Zajick

Release Date October 25, 1990
The Verdi Requiem is probably the only Verdi composition where the chorus can get more applause than the soloists. Whether that actually happened in this live, June 1987 performance at La Scala, I don't know, but it wouldn't have surprised me.

The chorus of La Scala is in very fine form. From the roar of the Dies Irae, to the hair-raising hyperkinetic Sanctus, to the hushed, expressiveness of the Libera Me chant, this chorus brings it all in this truly wonderful recording.

All four soloists are a pleasure to listen to, delighting the ear with their big beefy sound while keeping the vocal theatrics to a minimum. Cheryl Studer went on to record this with Claudio Abbado in 1991; she sounds pretty much the same in both recordings, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
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Maria Callas - La Divina

by: Giacomo Puccini, Vincenzo Bellini, Georges Bizet, Gioachino Rossini, Alfredo Catalani, Camille Saint-Saëns, Giuseppe Verdi, Charles Gounod, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Pietro Mascagni, Amilcare Ponchielli, Tullio Serafin, Georges Prêtre, Nicola Rescigno, Franco Ghione, Antonino Votto, Maria Callas, Alfredo Kraus, Ebe Ticozzi, Giuseppe di Stefano, London Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Orchestre National de la R.D.F., Conservatory Concert Society Orchestra, Lisbon Orquesta Sinfonica del Teatro Nacional de San Carlos

Release Date September 14, 1993
Miss Callas is why I became a lifelong lover of Opera. This is a wonderful way to introduce one's self to the music. Her voice, that voice...I have no words to describe. Just buy it and unlock a magical world. Listening to Miss Callas is like stumbling into a secret garden. It's lush, fragant, a force of nature. Dive in the water is fine. Callas Forever!!!!

CD-Charts Position 7
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The Ultimate Aria Collection ~ A Passion for Opera

by: Georges Bizet, Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Gaetano Donizetti, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Gioachino Rossini, Gustave Charpentier, Leo Delibes, Vincenzo Bellini, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Pietro Mascagni, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Francesco Cilea, Edouard Lalo, Camille Saint-Saens, Arrigo Boito, George Frideric Handel, Alfredo Catalani, Amilcare Ponchielli, Charles Gounod, Jules Massenet, Ambroise Thomas, Fritz Wunderlich, Rome Opera Theater Orchestra & Chorus, Maria Callas, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Wiener Philharmoniker, Orchestre de Paris, Carlo Maria Giulini, Tullio Serafin, Sir Charles Mackerras, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Riccardo Muti, Leone Magiera

Release Date August 11, 1998
Probely this is a good buy for someone who is gest getting into the world of OPERA.Still a very good purchaes with fimiluar songs.

CD-Charts Position 8
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Maria Callas & Giuseppe di Stefano - Italian Opera Duets

by: Vincenzo Bellini, Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Tullio Serafin, Herbert von Karajan, Norberto Mola, Victor De Sabata, Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Renato Ercolani, Carlo Forti, Giuse Gerbino, Dario Caselli, Angelo Mercuriali

Release Date October 25, 1990
I'm not a callas fan. The only reason why I love this cd is because of Di Stefano. Di Stefano is the greatest tenor that has ever lived! No one can best him!

CD-Charts Position 9
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Verdi: Macbeth (complete opera live 1952) with Maria Callas, Enzo Mascherini, Victor de Sabata, Orchestra & Chorus of La Scala, Milan

by: Giuseppe Verdi, Victor De Sabata, Maria Callas, Enzo Mascherini, Orchestra e coro del Teatro alla Scala, Italo Tajo, Gino Penno, Andrea Maffei, Dario Caselli, Attilio Barbesi

Release Date March 17, 1998
"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Giuseppe Verdi composed operas based on three of Shakespeare's plays, Macbeth in 1847, Otello in 1887, and Falstaff in 1893 (based on the Merry Wives of Windsor). As an opera, Macbeth is not considered as important as Verdi's later Otello and Falstaff. Macbeth follows Shakespeare's tragedy involving the lust for power and the betrayal of friends rather closely, but instead of using three witches (or Weird Sisters as in the play), he uses a large female chorus of witches. Unlike the play, Verdi begins the last act of his opera with an assembly of refugees on the English border, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
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Verdi: Aida / Chiara, Pavarotti, Dimitrova, Nucci, Burchuladze, Maazel

by: Giuseppe Verdi, Lorin Maazel, Orchestra e coro del Teatro alla Scala, Maria Chiara, Luciano Pavarotti, Ghena Dimitrova, Leo Nucci, Paata Burchuladze, Ernesto Gavazzi

Release Date May 22, 1990
Don't be fooled by the low-ish score: this is one of the most awe-inspiring, technically refined recordings of Aida currently on the market.

While it is true that Pavarotti's "heroics" leave to be desired, it is also true that it's always been so. The maestro wasn't known for his acting ability, but rather for the breathing techniques that gave him the clearest, highest voice that has ever blessed a tenor since Gigli and Corelli. All of this shines through in Aida.

Even more notably, the rest of the ensemble also shines. Chiara delivers one of the most touching interpretations of Numi Pieta' to date. Aida is both a sweet and a powerful character. It's why it's so hard to sing. Lyrical sopranos like Sutherland and Devia could never do it effectively, nor could ... Read More: