ReviewBlimey... Maria Callas certainly had a set of pipes to work with!
Even an untrained ear such as mine (or untuned :) can hear that the remarkable thing about her voice is that, although she is a Soprano, singing in the upper reaches of... um... things (that's a technical term folks), there's a kind extra dimension behind it, giving it a kind of depth...
(Is this where I should use the word: Paradox?... I think perhaps I oughta)
... and you certainly have to get a decent piece of vinyl to take it, and deliver it, as I can imagine some might plausibly shake to splinters on your turntable when she really pushes it.
Fortunately, that's what you have here.
This was one of two mono Columbia albums I picked up the other day, for the explicit purpose of seeing what they were like (this and the other, I 've now entered on site - see Schubert / Beethoven No. 8s with the green string (Chord)), and they are both incredibly good.
And I'm beginning to understand the mysterious alchemy of what makes a good classical record, because having listened to both, and a (admittedly small) selection of other discs, including the stereos and the monos, it doesn't simply have to be stereo.
A lot depends on the quality, and method of the original recording... certainly as a starting point. As my experience with the Toscanini - Beethoven revealed on HMV mono, the issue has almost everything going for it, except that all important recording in the first instance.... The Piece of music: Great. The performers: Brilliant. The Conductor: A Legend. Vinyl: Stunning.
... But all of this falls by the way side if the whole orchestra is recorded through a single microphone incapable of taking it all in.
On the other hand, if you have just one instrument playing a recital or solo, this might not matter as much... so the music has to suit the medium, and the method. And then we come to the vinyl, which has to be able to represent all that regardless of the fact of it's being either stereo or mono.
And this scores highly on fronts, as although it is mono... it's a full spread mono... rich and deep, broad too... but highly detailed, and tremendous clarity... not distorting when Ms Callas has cracked every window in my house... In fact, it's so good, you even forget it's not stereo!
I don't, in all honestly, like Opera (Don't even mention musicals to me! - (With only one or two exceptional exceptions!), but I can give an airing to the odd aria when the mood strikes... so this highlights disc suits my taste well, as it probably would for most who are of a similar disposition, whereas a more serious classical fan might prefer to look for the whole thing somewhere else in a box set perhaps.
Of course there's the big rousing "Anvil Chorus", which is great, and, I would suggest, might sound fantastic coming from the terraces of a football stadium (Whichever Footie player's name might fit), but the opening band on the second side is stunning.... Very delicate, but beatifully sung by Callas, and would be worth the price of this by itself.
But to conclude... I'd say a general rule of thumb for Classical music on vinyl, is that yo just can't go wrong with Columbia discs... either Stereo or Mono... they just have that little something special about them in all the right ways. Deutsche Grammophon I've found can be a little light on their feet occasionally, and HMV is a little hit and miss (either knock it out park, or struggle a little).
- Albeit, my limited experience must be taken into consideration here -
But I've not been disappointed in any Columbia discs in any way so far.... they are the dog's biscuits, certainly as far as this blathering idiot is concerned.