Yes, it’s the Callas Tosca yet again, this time reissued in EMI’s Great Recordings of the Century series, and it’s still the one version that you must own if you’ve been visiting another galaxy this past half-century and for some reason haven’t heard it yet. It has the incomparable Callas, fiery yet also touching and vulnerable where necessary, the lusty-lunged Giuseppe di Stefano shouting up a storm, and the best of all possible Scarpias in Tito Gobbi. Okay, I have to be honest: the legendary Victor de Sabata doesn’t bring anything to the work that others haven’t subsequently done equally well, but he certainly stands with the best conductors of this score, and EMI’s honest mono engineering still sounds like honest mono engineering–solid, natural, a bit restricted in dynamic range but listenable to the point where the performance very quickly takes over from sonic considerations. Buy. Own. Enjoy. [10/4/2004]
