It is imposable do not love Giacomo Puccini. Would it be possible do not be in awe of Tosca?

Among the numerous performances of this opera that I have on my shelves there are many great. The De Sabata’s La Scala performance from 1953 with Callas, Di Stefano, Gobbi, Calabrese and Luise is certainly the very special one. Find an original first pressing from 50s-60s and you get a really fabulous combination of performance and sound.

Many great singers did this opera as well as great conductors: Victor de Sabata, Erich Leinsdorf, Karajan, Cesar Sodero, Alberto Erede, Colin Davis, Arturo Basile, Curt Adler, Francesco Molinari-Pradelli and many others … but here is coming something special…

There is a performance that is so insultingly-good that it is not even funny. Unfortunately it never made as a main commercial release … like anything else… the best do not find it's ways to the mass market….

Anyhow, the performance took place on January 7 1956 with Metropolitan Opera Orchestra led by Dmitriy Mitropoulos with an extraordinary cast: Renata Tebaldi, Richard Tucker, Fernando Corena, Leonard Warren… Everything in this Broadcast comed together: starting from the magnificent reading of Puccini, excellent actor’s singing and acting (and you will hear the acting through the sound) and ending with a superbly ambianc sound. The recording was made by RCA.

Rgs,
The Cat