OPÉRA INTERNATIONAL
No. 247 - June 2000

     “Finally... Callas, whom we would have rather not evoked in this review of new releases, so cruel is the comparison for all her soprano colleagues. But the Argentinean collection “Divina”, who has undertaken to make us discover the late lamented Maria's legacy in its entirety, offers us today her NORMA in Buenos Aires, 17 June 1949, in excellent spund, the tapes originating directly from the Teatro Colón's archives.
     “Unfortunately, only the Overture, the first Oroveso (Nicola Rossi Lemeni) scene and the first duet with Adalgisa (Fedora Barbieri) from that evening have been found to date. As a supplement and preceded by radio announcements, the company offers the first part of the July 9 gala where, after the Overture conducted by Serafin and the chorus Norma viene, Callas sings Casta diva with the recitative and cabaletta (the banal Helena Arismendi is heard subsequently in the Jewel Song from FAUST, sung in Italian).
     “Does the miracle of Callas in NORMA need to be told again? In 1949, her easiness is amazing, she is already as rich in colour and dramatic intensity as in the 1950s, when the performer will become more expert.”

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