In May 2022, while we were working in the archives of the Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB), we came across the original tapes of this mythical recording made in 1955. It was certainly one of the most significant testimonies of the lyric art of the twentieth century: Lucia di Lammermoor, recorded during the performance of 29 September 1955 at the Städtische Oper Berlin, with a cast that included Di Stefano, Panerai, Karajan and Callas.
Despite the fact that the first forty seconds of the first tape had deteriorated, when we listened to the minutes of the recording that followed, we heard timbres with a richness and a dynamic that bore no comparison to other recordings that have been known until the present.
It took four months of painstaking work to restore all the brilliance to the orchestra, to the Scala choir and to the legendary voices of this poignant slice of history and of music.
We wanted to be able to release our first vinyl edition of the opera in a limited number of 5,000 on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Maria Callas.
Kevin Gray made the cutting and the three records were pressed in our very own workshop in the south of France, MWP, to our usual stringent standards.
We are very grateful to the RBB for their trust in us. We would also like to thank the Callas Foundation, which safeguards and promotes Callas’s legacy, and especially Tom Volf, for their help, as well as for the photographs they provided.
Frédéric D'Oria-Nicolas
Founder and Director of The Lost Recordings
I have a very personal connection with Callas’s Lucia, for it is the first recording I heard of hers, more precisely the mad scene; hearing Callas’s voice and interpretation was like falling in love at first sight. This live recording is a wonderful example of what it felt like to hear Callas on stage, in a performance that became legendary.
Maria Callas said she “hated” recording for commercial (studio) releases and used to say that only live performances could convey her artistry in its full spectrum. In the later years of her life, she would collect her own pirate recordings and would often listen to performances such as this one. The best account of that comes from Robert Sutherland, her pianist during the last tour of concerts in 1973-74, who recalled the evenings spent at Callas’s apartment at Avenue Georges Mandel:
“We listened to a pirate recording of the Berlin Lucia. She remembered how Karajan angered the soloists by repeating the sextet without warning them. As we listened to the encore she said ‘You can hear how angry I was! And I still had the mad scene to sing! I told him afterwards at dinner that he dare not do that again on me or there would be trouble!’ We listened to the mad scene, an amazing performance. She was visibly impressed. ‘I don’t now how I did it. I just don’t know how - and to think that I wept after that performance because I thought I was so far off my aim.’ I had difficulty in expressing my reaction. Such a combination of controlled technical brilliance and artistic imagination was astounding. I attempted it with, ‘It’s marvellous singing…’ ‘Marvellous? Marvellous?’ She pulled herself up in the sofa. ‘It isn’t marvellous, it’s bloody miraculous!’”
Back at that time, pirate recordings circulated among avid admirers in the form of homemade LP’s, such as those released by the BJR label which is probably the one that Callas was listening to that night with Robert Sutherland. Today, however, we have to commend Frédéric D’Oria-Nicolas and The Lost Recordings for retrieving the original tapes in Berlin and meticulously restoring them to a quality of sound which surpasses any previous release, thus providing us with the most authentic rendition of that historical performance. Therefore it was only natural for the Callas Foundation to be associated with this publication, providing texts and images to illustrate the booklet and honour the memory of Maria Callas through this magnificent edition celebrating her 100th anniversary.
Tom Volf
President of the Maria Callas Foundation
Tracklist:
RECORD 1 - DONIZETTI: LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR: ACT I
1 Prelude
2 Percorrete... Percorriamo le spiagge vicine
3 Tu sei turbato!... E n’ho ben d’onde
4 Cruda, funesta smania
5 Il tuo dubbio è omai certezza... Come vinti da stanchezza
6 La pietade in suo favore
7 Ancor non giunse?
8 Regnava nel silenzio alta la notte e bruna
9 Quando rapito in estasi
10 Egli s'avanza... Lucia, perdona se ad ora inusitata
11 Sulla tomba che rinserra il tradito genitore
12 Qui di sposa eterna fede... Ah, soltanto il nostro foco
13 Ah, talor del tuo pensiero venga un foglio messaggero
14 Verranno a te sull'aure i miei sospiri ardenti
RECORD 2 - DONIZETTI: LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR: ACT II
15 Lucia fra poco a te verrà... Tremante l’aspetto
16 Appressati, Lucia... Il pallor funesto, orrendo
17 Soffriva nel pianto... Un folle t’accese
18 Che fia?... Suonar di giubilo
19 Se tradirmi tu potrai... Tu che vedi il pianto mio
20 Per te d’immenso giubilo... Per poco fra le tenebre sparì lavos tra stella
21 Dov’è Lucia?... Qui giungere or la vedrem
22 Piange la madre estinta
23 Chi mi frena in tal momento
24 T’allontana, sciagurato... Rispettate in me di Dio
25 Sconsigliato! In queste porte chi ti guida?
26 Esci, fuggi, il furor che mi accende
RECORD 3 - DONIZETTI: LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR: ACT III
27 D’immenso giubilo s’innalzi un grido
28 Dalle stanze ove Lucia tratta avea col suo consorte
29 Oh! Qual funesto avvenimento!
30 Il dolce suono mi colpì di sua voce!...
31 Ardon gli incensi
32 Spargi d'amaro pianto
33 Tombe degli avi miei
34 Fra poco a me ricovero darà negletto avello
35 Oh, meschina! Oh, fato orrendo!
36 Tu che a Dio spiegasti l’ali
Maria Callas, Lucia
Giuseppe Di Stefano, Edgardo
Rolando Panerai, Enrico
Nicola Zaccaria, Raimondo
Giuseppe Zampieri, Arturo
Luisa Villa, Alisa
Mario Carlin, Normanno
Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Milan
RIAS Symphony Orchestra
Herbert von Karajan, Conductor
Recorded on 29.IX.1955 at Städtische Oper Berlin, Germany
MONO 1955 RBB
Remastered ℗ & © 2023 THE LOST RECORDINGS
No vinyl repress will be done
40 pages booklet
facsimile of the performance program
Printed in Italy
33 rpm Lacquer-cuts: Kevin Gray
Electroplating: Marciac Workshop Pressings
Recording information:
Title: Lucia di Lammermoor - Live In Berlin 1955
Composer: Gaetano Donizetti
Artist: Maria Callas
Conductor: Herbert von Karajan
Genre: Classical
Media: 3x 180g LP Vinyl Mono 33rpm, Limited to 5000, Numbered, Remastered, . Remastered from the original analog tapes. 1st edition, hand-numbered. Pressed by Marciac Workshop Pressings, France. A 16-BIT ALBUM DOWNLOAD CARD IS INCLUDED WITH THE VINYL.
Label: The Lost Recordings
Cat#: TLR-2303027V
Released: 2023 in France
EAN: 3770020964077
