Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor (Recorded 1955, Berlin, Maria Callas) - Live

The 1954 staging at La Scala, Milan of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor was the only time Maria Callas collaborated with the legendary conductor Herbert von Karajan in a live operatic production. The results were widely acclaimed as sensational, and when the show toured a year later audiences were equally elated. The September 29 Berlin performance is captured in mono sound on this recording, and shows Callas at the peak of her extraordinary abilities. In the “mad scene,” where Lucia is unhinged by the consequences of a brutally enforced marriage, Callas is an emotionally drained if vocally imperious presence. Earlier, in the famous sextet—sung twice, to an ecstatic, encore-hungry audience—she pierces the multi-voiced textures to thrilling effect. Karajan’s conducting is a major value-adding factor. Fiery and flexible, it perfectly complements Callas’ interpretation of a role to which she brought a rare degree of understanding and intensity.