Verdi, Giuseppe - Forza del destino, La - Callas, Maria (soprano)

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Although this 1954 recording of La forza del destino is not without flaws, Callas casts her Donna Leonora in the grand manner and her breath spans are of a truly notable length. She makes us conscious of every section of Leonora's music, setting off the first scene in Act I with fitting simplicity. In the Act III duet with Padre Guardiano, Più tranquilla, Callas shows her just rendition of note values; each of them is sung as Verdi specifies, contained within a perfect legato and yet she injects the subtlest rubato so giving it life. Under Serafin's inspired direction she sings the two famous arias, Madre pietosa vergine and Pace, pace mio Dio, with appropriate grandeur, on a tragic scale, underlining Verdi's indications 'come un lamento' and 'con dolore'.