Greece Hotels Travel - Maria Callas - The Callas Conversations (EMI Classic Archive)
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List Price: $24.98
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Manufacturer: EMI Classics
Starring: Maria Callas
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0724349076495
Format: Classical
Label: EMI Classics
Manufacturer: EMI Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: EMI Classics
Region Code: 0
Release Date: 2004-05-04
Running Time: 119
Studio: EMI Classics
Theatrical Release Date: 2003
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Editorial Reviews:
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The Callas Conversations offers some rare and fascinating glimpses of Maria Callas, whose life and art are well-documented by books and records but less so in video formats. What is documented here is mostly Callas as an interview subject, not Callas as an operatic actress who transfixed audiences with her visual presence. The two 1968 BBC interviews are her most important appearances on television. Her conversations with George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, a dominant figure in English opera, and a friendly, knowledgeable interviewer, put her completely at ease. They discuss her early career (as Isolde and Brunnhilde, believe it or not), her conversion to bel canto, conductor Tullio Serafin who was her mentor, her vocal style, and her (often surprising) views on her best-known roles. Samples of her singing are scattered through the interviews in audio recordings artfully linked with still photos. Also included (in French with subtitles) are her 1965 interview with critic and organist Bernard Gavoty and three arias ("Adieu, notre petite table," "Ah, non credea mirarti," and "O mio babbino caro") in concert performances conducted by Georges Pretre. This segment is more formal and less revealing than the Harewood conversations but worth seeing. The arias are well-sung concert performances, out of costume and with minimal acting except for facial expressions. --Joe McLellan
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: An explanation of Art
Comment: I simply cannot imagine a better, more succinct explanation of Art and how to create it. If someone who reads this can pass along a comparable lesson on Art, please comment!
This DVD shows Maria's Art, Grace, Elegance and her Intelligence. What wonders...
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Callas- Kele Agi
Comment: Vissi D'arte
I just listened to a wonderful new CD called "Callas: Rare and Unreleased". This CD includes a very brief recording that's even later than Callas' "last" recording that I mentioned a while ago. The one I mentioned before was from 1976; this is from August 1977, only about a month before she died. It's very short; less than a minute, I think. (The CD doesn't give the timing.) I can't really tell from so brief a recording what condition Callas' voice was in, but it seemed to me that her voice had actually improved since 1974. (There are also excerpts from some of her 1974 concerts on this CD.) I certainly thought it sounded better than the 1976 recording. I could be completely wrong, though. By the way, in the 1977 recording, Vasso Devetzi accompanies her on the piano, and I thought that was very upsetting to listen to, after what I read about Devetzi in Galatopoulos' new biography of Callas.
Going back to my question about Callas as the youngest Tosca: I was reading the archives of an e-mail list called Vo2calist; this list is meant for singers, so I'm not a member, and most of the technical discussions go way over my head, but I saw a message from a girl who was 16 at the time she wrote it (this was last year); she said she wanted to sing Vissi d'arte at her high school concert. Other people responded (some very rudely, I thought), saying that any teacher who lets a girl sing Vissi d'arte at 16 must be crazy. Someone said, "don't go near Vissi d'arte for at least another ten years". I immediately thought of Callas, who sang not just Vissi d'arte, but the whole role of Tosca, when she was not much older than this girl. This discussion on Vocalist made it seem even more likely that Callas was the youngest Tosca. And it makes me think, even more, that singing Tosca and other heavy roles so young contributed to Callas' vocal decline.
posted by Kele at dimanche, octobre 16, 2005 0 comments
Customer Rating:
Summary: Substance and style
Comment: The wonderful thing about these conversations, and what marks them as quite distinct from the approach to interviewing artists these days, is that they concentrate on the work not on the celebrity. Callas speaks with great conviction about her approach to applying the tecnique she'd been taught, her preparation for new roles, her development as a musician. She properly acknowledges the influence of her mentors. The conversations remind us that despite the tragedies in her life - personal and professional - she was a fiercely intelligent musician possessed of a rare charisma. Both her commentary as to why she never performed on stage in a production of Carmen, and her thoughts on her approach over the years to playing Violetta in La Traviata, are particularly interesting. The three 1965 filmed performances of pieces by Massenet, Bellini and Puccini show the singer simply, but to great effect.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Callas Conversations by Maria Callas
Comment: I have purchased this item as a birthday present for my sister who had it on Tape. It unfortunately was destroyed, so I have replaced it with this purchase. I am interested in purchasing a C.D of the same Title, but have not been successful. The delivery of this item was speedy and arrived undamaged. My sister will be overjoyed on her birthday.
thank you
Customer Rating:
Summary: grand and irreplaceable
Comment: I've watched these Lord Harewood interviews of Callas many times, each time startled by some point, some gesture I'd missed before. Callas is a vessel of fire when she speaks about Art, incendiary and completely vital. One quickly starts to feel keenly the modesty she possessed, owning her workman's ethic for the noble component it is. By that alone, every viewing of the Conversations is an invigorating experience. Harewood's interested courtliness, washed innocent by instinctive intelligence and by a real love for opera, is an important element. His steadiness throughout proves Maria's clear trust in him. Callas' depth of understanding of her art manifests over and again. In extras, her 60's French TV interview with Bernard Gavoty turns almost whimsical with the enthusiasm of them both. Maria's gifted intelligence entices as her youthful Hepburnesque face enchants, in almost daring television lights. Her command of French clicks in impeccably, and matches her English manner of speaking with a measured, forthright cadence, but with a wry coquettishness that would disarm Hannibal. And a shamelessly intense young Callas sings 'Mio babbino caro' with a freedom and elan to make you stand up and cheer. This is a documentary adventure with serious underpinnings, and as significant a witness to the inherent truth of Art as we're ever likely to find. Pure satisfaction to the max.
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