Maria Meneghini Callas - Sings Operatic Arias

Maria Meneghini Callas's musical and dramatic talents led to her being hailed as La Divina.

Most monophonic EMI recordings in the early 1950s were taped on an EMI BTR I (BTR standing for British Tape Recorder) running at 30 inches per second (76cm/s) and these Callas master tapes are no exception. This created a problem for us because there exist no half-inch mono recording heads. So for our original master tape, we decided to copy the first generation master tapes at 30 ips (in order not to compress the signal by ‘downsizing’ it to 15ips) and to copy the signal onto one of the two tracks of the half-inch stereo recording heads of the Studer A-80.

When you hear the results you will be stunned by the incredible purity of tone of Callas's high register and by the unbelievable magic of the middle range of her voice. This is one of the great Callas recordings when her voice was at its most flexible, extended and technically solid. Her rendering of Giordano's “La mamma morta” and Rossini's “Una voce poca fa” remains to this day one of the greatest operatic interpretations ever recorded.

As this recital amply demonstrates, Maria Callas encompassed an extraordinary range of roles. She is as convincing in the pinpoint coloratura of Lakmés 'Bell Song' (Her chromatic scale is beautifully done and she sails up to the region known as in alt with the greatest ease, said Gramophone) as in the sweeping, richly-coloured lines of Maddalenas 'La mamma morta' from Andrea Chénier, famously and movingly featured on the soundtrack of the 1993 Hollywood film Philadelphia. 'There is great tenderness and simplicity, deep emotion, and the most lovely moulding of the vocal phrases,' wrote Gramophone, 'Madame Callas's characterizations are nothing less than superb, and altogether there is some of her finest singing yet recorded.'

Album: Maria Callas - Sings Operatic Arias
Label: International Audiophile Recordings - TRRC003
Format: 2xReel-To-Reel, 15 ips, ¼", 2-Track Stereo, 10.5" NAB Reel, Album, CCIR OR NAB Eq.
Country: Italy
Released: 2022
Genre: Classical
Style: Opera, Vocal, Classical

Tracklist:

Tape One:

1. Adriana Lecouvreur Composed By – Cilea Ecco: Respiro Appena ... Lo Son L'umile Ancella (Act 1) 3:42
2. Adriana Lecouvreur Composed By – Cilea Ecco: Poveri Fiori (Act 4) 3:09
3. Andrea Chénier Composed By – Giordano La Mamma Morta (Act 3) 4:48
4. La Wally Composed By – Catalani Ebben? Ne Andò Lontana (Act 1) 4:47
5. Mefistofele Composed By – Boito L'altra Notte In Fondo Al Mare (Act 3) 7:23

Tape Two:

1. Barbiere Di Siviglia Composed By – Rossini Cavatina: Una Voce Poco Fà (Act 1) 6:47
2. Dinorah Composed By – Meyerbeer Ombra Leggiera (Shadow Song) (Act 2) 5:39
3. Lakme Composed By – Delibes Dov' È L'Indiana Bruna? (Bell Song) (Act 2) 8:00
4. Vespri Siciliani Composed By – Verdi Bolero: Mercè, Dilette Amiche (Act 5) 3:58

Musicians:

• Soprano by Maria Callas
• Conducted By Tullio Serafin
• Orchestra By The Philharmonia Orchestra
• Composer: Gioachino Rossini, Arrigo Boito, Alfredo Catalani, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Francesco Cilea, Giuseppe Verdi, Umberto Giordano, Léo Delibes

Callas Sings Operatic Arias

Recording location: Watford Town Hall, Hertfordshire, UK
Recording date: 17, 20, 21 September 1954
Recording equipment: EMI BRT I, 1 track
Tape speed: 30 ips (76 cm/s)
Tape width: quarter-inch
Tape stock: Agfa Genoton
Producer: Walter Legge
Sound engineer: Robert Beckett
The original recording appeared on LP EMI Columbia 33CX 1231

Record Company – Columbia Graphophone Company Ltd.
Record Company – E.M.I. Records Limited

The transfer of our masters onto your quarter-inch reel-to-reels: a new approach In order to avoid, insofar as is possible, further degradation of the signal when we duplicate the master onto your reel-to-reel master tape copy, we copy them back-to-back: i.e. the signal coming out of a Studer A-80 playing back the master, is sent directly into the inputs of another Studer A-80 which is recording the master on your reel-to-reel audio tape.

Each tape is assigned a ‘Certificate of authentication’: an individual certification number which guarantees its provenance and that we keep in our archives. Like this, you are sure to receive a genuine article. In addition, with every reel-to-reel, you will receive a four-page colour brochure which outlines and explains each stage of production of the particular recording you have bought.

International Audiophile Recording presents a new collection of reel-to-reel tapes produced as a result of a special collaboration with Warner Music, which in turn has allowed direct access to original master tapes.

In the case of the first three releases the original, first-generation quarter-inch masters were played back on a modified Studer A 80 and checked out by Abbey Road Studio engineers to ensure maximum qualitative playback. This does not entail verifying solely the quality of the tapes themselves but also the set-up of the correct frequency response of the recording curve (CCIR or NAB) as well as the correct set-up of the azimut of the playback heads.

This might sound banal but it is one of the most crucial steps in the remastering process.

When stereo technology appeared, recording engineers, for various reasons, did not always set up the recording heads at the correct 90° angle (azimuth). As a result, many recordings were made with an incorrect azimut. This can create sonic problems like flattened sound stages and high-frequency emphasis if the original tapes - having been recorded with an Azimut different from the standard 90° angle - are then played on a recorder that has a perfect Azimut alignment. This is one reason why we have opted to work with experienced Abbey Road Studio engineers who can spot this problem and playback the original tapes with the Azimut angle of the recording heads of the recorders used to make the original recordings. This is a difficult task and only engineers with experience and outstanding musical ears can do this kind of fine-tuning. As obvious as it may seem, many new remasterings of recordings of the so-called Golden Age sound worse than their previous releases, precisely because the original tapes were played back with the wrong Azimut on the recording heads.

The first generation tapes were subsequently copied onto another A 80, this time one equipped with half-inch recording heads for a near-perfect copy of the original master tapes. This copy then became our own master and was used to duplicate your reel-to-reels.

Our masters are therefore an almost identical copy of the original quarter-inch, first generation, master tapes. Because they were duplicated on a half-inch tape, the loss in quality compared to the first-generation tapes is very,
very small: for all intents and purposes, the masters we use for the final duplication of your reel-to-reels are nearly identical to the original masters of the recording sessions.

In order to avoid, insofar as is possible, further degradation of the signal when we duplicate the master onto your reel-to-reels, we copy them back-to-back: i.e. the signal coming out of a Studer A80 playing back the master tape is sent directly into the inputs of another A80 which is recording the master on your reel-to-reel audio tape.

Warner Classics Ultra-Master Tape Copy Features:
• 1st Generation Reel to Reel Tape made from the Original Master Tape
• Pure Analogue Recording
• Analogue Tape Copies from original analogue masters
• Each tape copied with CCIR equalization with reference level 320 nWb/m on half-track 1/4" Recording The Master's Tape
• High-class cardboard box features production cover picture labelled to the box
• EQ: 320 nWb
• Half-track format
• Tape Speed: 15 ips, 1/4-inch 2-track analogue tape
• Made in Italy

Equalization Curves: CCIR or NAB, you choose which one is the best for your reel-to-reel tape machine to play this master tape copy. Master Quality Reel To Reel Tape Copy – Exceptional Audiophile Sound as Close To The Original Master Reference Quality As Possible.

The Tape Ordering - On-Demand Orders Only

OpenReelToReel Hub is passionate about the sound quality of analogue tape, we stock the very best audiophile-grade records and have probably the largest music on reel-to-reel tape stockholding in the UK and Europe.

Analog Fidelity Sound: Desirable for discerning audiophile listeners. OpenReelToReel Hub is happy to offer analogue recordings from trusted recording studios allies, labels and independent musicians. The Music On Reel-To-Reel Tape: The master tape duplication copy is a handmade product in real-time, by sound engineers and studio professionals with today's technology advantages: greater dynamic range, especially at frequency extremes; minimal signal processing; and unsurpassed richness and realism - it's the closest to hearing the music on master tape copy.

Before You Play The Tape: Please Note The Tape Is Tailed Out. Before playback please rewind the tape first. Make sure that you clean open reel-to-reel tape recorder heads regularly for optimal frequency response.

Are you ready for the move to open-reel perfection? Magnetic Tape and the Emergence of High-Fidelity Recording. Each copy is transferred in real-time, using studio-level reel-to-reel tape recorders on the freshly made RTM audiotape. Production of audiotapes is a very time-consuming process, so each label usually can only release a new album in batches.

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