Luigi Cherubini - Medea Splurging Festival of 9/19/2020
Five different pressings of the Maria Callas Medea performance with Tullio Serafin / Teatro Alla Scala, recorded in Milan 1958 by G Ricordi & Co S.p.A. Sung in Italian.
Columbia, with "EMI Stereophonic Recording" gold/red sticker logo. SAX 2290-I-2. Stereo masterworks series, LP no 1005. Beautiful Columbia stereophonic label, superb double inner sleeves. EQ4, very high cut, highs are off the chart, needed to cut them -2dB for balance. On the shrill side, Maria Callas' voice blasts your head off with the intensity and power, it's brutal. It is pure mono, despite the stereo logo! Bass is not defined. Sounds like a late pressing with boosted recording level to compensate.
Blue Everest logo: Everest Opera series S-437/3. Low quality labels, box and label are cheap compared to Columbia pressing. It is cut much, much lower (at least 10dB lower!) However, this is real stereo, projects a very good, layered stage. EQ2, no high cut needed. That is, this is a standard RIAA recording, competely different master from Columbia's. Maria's voice is to die for: layered, human, feminine. Goosebumps galore! If you hear her on this recording, you will not be able to live without her any longer. You will experience her, and get instantly why she is soprano goddess, the eternal diva. In the Columbia pressing I could not wait for the arias to be over. In this recording, I hope the side never ends, and I am so glad that this is a box set, and I have 3 records to witness the miracle. Side 6: cut WAY higher than Side1, lot of tape hiss, her voice is shrill and cold, lacks the fine colorations and feminine shadings. Orchestra is hollow. Very similar to Columbia's presentation, but in stereo. I'v never seen such discrepancy between LP sides!! How disappointing. Side2 is has a third character: somewhere between 1 and 6. Already lack of detail, but the bass is strong and imaging is better than Side6. It appears they used a different master tape for each side!
Gold Everest logo, featuring Cetra Ricordi, white-gold cover with drawing: Everest Opera series S-437/3. Red Everest label. Records have a gunky substance on the surface. Side1: Tape seems worn compared to blue Everest. Higher cut, much less refined / detailed. Stylus get dirty very fast, stopped playing further, as by all means the blue everest Side1 is from a much earlier pressing.
MLP, SR3-9000. Blue/white sash, blue stereo hifi top band. Holy crap, my ears! Cut super high, shrill as if they were drilling in your ear canal. Just as the Columbia /EMI sticker. Such poor pressings give bad rep to sopranos, and people think that Maria Callas' voice is all about shouting your fecking head off your shoulders.
Olympian Living presence, blue/white sash, OL-3-104. Mono. EQ4. Highs shrill, bass missing. A tad better than Columbia, does not need the HF cut. Introduction: very good tempo, carries you with it, very energetic and dynamic. Much more drive than the stereo editions. Still has a piece of beauty, that enchanting quality in her voice, but not the layering and shading as in Side1 of #2. Side6: consistent with Side1.
Overall: most of the pressings are late and weak. They portray Maria Callas' voice as high pitched, thin, shrill, slicing, and lacking emotions. On the early pressing her voice is the exact opposite: deeply emotional, extremely nuanced, delicate, full bodied and very feminine. All of this is entirely missing from most pressings. Very, very sad.