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Warner, a multi-billion dollar, multi-national corporation, acquired EMI, Fonit Cetra, and all their holdings. That included the recorded output of Maria Callas, one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century. The studio recordings were remastered in 2014, many satisfactorily, many problematically. Now Warner has issued a number of the live recordings that EMI published beginning in 1980, and a few others. It is important to note that with releases in and after 1990, all EMI live Callas performance CDs were taken from from older releases by small companies, many out of print or out of business and re-EQ'd. Warner has, as usual, used its monumental advertising budget to hype their reworkings of these issuances, claiming they used 'new' sources. It turns out that the 'new' sources are still more previously released CD and LP versions, but largely they are re-EQs of the EMI versions--themselves re-EQs of others' masterings. What must be understood is that the original off-air or in-house tapes for these great performances were virtually all known by the 1970s, and only a few have surfaced since. Initially, Warner claimed to have used 'new' sources from La Scala's Oscar Costellaci and film maker Tom Volf, but ultimately, it is largely unknowable what the mysterious Sr. Costellaci actually had, and negotiations with Mr. Volf fell through (with, I am told, some acrimonious words about Warner viewing the great Callas as no more than a 'cash cow'). Warner used the French firm 'Art & Son' to remaster these performances. It must be said that the 'Art & Son' engineers at first seem more talented than the Abbey Road technicians who re-EQed them for EMI, but on repeated listenings, some of the already unsatisfying EMI versions are preferable. Art & Son's methods do not vary from opera to opera: filtering the upper register for a smoother sound and increasing the upper bass for more presence and a more 'modern' sound. It's as though they set their equalizer and went out to lunch while running all the files through it. With 'smoother' highs, one loses overtones, color, the sense of space, and specific vocal characteristics; with a pumped upper bass, one loses transparency of texture, and again, correct vocal character. Thus, these masterings are not accurate to the original sources we know--to which Warner had no access anyway. It is a shame that negotiations with Pablo Berruti of Divina Records to do this work fell apart as he would have produced marvels similar to the productions of his Divina Records; moreover, he has access to the true original sources. Warner did this on the cheap; hence the super-inexpensive $1.54-per-disc price as pre-orders. The claims of 'new' sources fall apart immediately with listening and spectral analysis by those who know the releases that preceded the Warners: [1] NABUCCO: Melodram/Golden Melodram/Myto (all largely the same) and a bit of Hardy Classics--in that order; it's too bad because Hardy is better, and closer to th source. Some strange splice points. All with even more filtering; quite mediocre. While this 1949 off-air recording can never be good, the best version and closest to the original sources, is offered by an eBay seller who is also a Callas scholar and uses the moniker ars_vocalis. [2] PARSIFAL: one of the Fonit Cetra CD sets (also owned by Warner) with a 40-second omission in Act I somewhat clumsily added from an inferior off-air source (Virtuoso?)--and re-EQ'd, of course. [3] I VESPRI SICILIANI: Testament--the house tape made for EMI producer Walter Legge but sadly dulled here; overture added from the usual inferior off-air source heard in Melodram/Myto (Legge didn't want the overture as he was auditioning Callas for EMI). It feels as though Art & Son was trying to get the beautiful Legge source to match the seriously inferior overture, rather than the other way around. [4] AIDA--Mexico 1951: EMI--itself lifted from Melodram 26015, a few new edits (e.g. ten seconds opening Act II, sc. 2 to undo the faked EMI/Melodram applause overlap from sc. 1 to sc. 2; the source for the ten-second spliced source, ironically, sounds better); the enthusiastic announcer is again missing; the sound is dulled to remove distortion--which it really doesn't, sadly removing vocal color, resonance, and immediacy as well. I actually prefer old Melodram 26015/EMI 5 62678 though they're poor and no match for Myto or ars_vocalis. [5] ARMIDA: Divina via Myto (one can hear a hidden "The sound restoration of this recording is copyrighted by Divina Records"). It is not only piracy but the 12 minutes--all Callas' singing, damaged by a background unerased speaking voice in the original tape, which were discovered by Divina, are deleted. Divina's release is complete (as is Myto's theft). Also, the Warner has sliced off the upper octave, so the super-lively Florence auditorium heard in other performances, is deadened. [6] RIGOLETTO: probably Myto, just with dulled highs and some added reverb. The inclusion of this chaotic performance and the absence of the important 1957 Scala BALLO IN MASCHERA was a very poor decision. [7] NORMA--Covent Garden 1952: the 2003 EMI set, itself a clone of the poor AS-Disc, which was a clone of old Melodram 26025. Like these (EMI/AS-Disc/Melodram), the pitch is a little flat, and the first two chords of the second act are missing. Ars_vocalis on eBay is a perfect version from the original tape. [8] MACBETH: from Nuova Era 2202, a version used but sonically improved by Myto, complete with a few splices found in no other tape. Warner has deleted extended applause added by Myto, a good thing, but didn't notice the splices, nor one 6-second phrase in the Act I Macbeth-Lady M duet that all could have been found elsewhere and replaced. Their source does have the original Act I finale, where the volume drops and raising it increases hum; better than the substitution of a completely different performance (with Leyla Gencer 1960) that used to be spliced in (including EMI, a theft from Arkadia, which sued EMI and won). One could certainly do worse than the Warner but there are a few things out there that solve all the problems. [9] MEDEA--Scala 1953 with Bernstein conducting: EMI, cloned from out-of-print Verona, the only one with specific skips in the overture. The Warner remaster no better than EMI, and the Verona is better. But even that is not the ultimate choice: ars_vocalis, closest to the tapes, is. [10] ALCESTE: this has always been in poor sound and is sourced from Golden Melodram with the balances messed up. [11] LA VESTALE: Although Membran (2005) is often thought the best-sounding release of this overload-ridden performance tape, and EMI typically licensed recordings to them, Warner seems to have used the brighter, hissier 1992 G.O.P. 741-CD2, as usual rolling off the top somewhat (not a bad idea with this awful source) and increasing the upper bass. [12] ANDREA CHENIER: an opera Callas didn't want to do, but capitulated when tenor Mario del Monaco was worried about the high Cs in the originally planned TROVATORE. Terrible, distorted sound: EMI's clone of some other source. It's been worse, but it hardly matters. [13] LA SONNAMBULA: Warner, in a PR video, shows the 1970s red-label Cetra Opera Live LP as the touted source--re-pitched (it was a semitone sharp). When I saw that, my heart sank, as the Cetra OL was not only off-pitch but was the worst-sounding version around (interestingly, the US mastering of the same tape on Turnabout/Vox LP was not bad and at pitch). However, spectral analysis shows that this is just the EMI CD release, itself taken from Myto--and once again, filtered. [14] LUCIA--Berlin 9/1955: one of those amazing nights, recorded professionally by Berlin Radio. It's difficult to make this sound bad--but Warner managed to degrade it. The source here is most likely EMI 1997 with a few other things at points when the sound changes. In addition to some odd new print-through and dropouts, it's less pleasing even than EMI, the re-EQ unhelpful. Divina is the best around, truly and accurately from the beautiful tapes. [15] ANNA BOLENA: the appalling EMI--from the worse of the two extant sources (why did they steal a version based on that?!), with a few sections from the good tape (the ending). It's been repitched (EMI was flat throughout) but oddly, not entirely. Go for anything but this or EMI. Best is Divina, but even out-of-print G.O.P. or Verona are okay. [16] IFIGENIA IN TAURIDE: This may be the one from the cited collection of 'Oscar Costellacci'. Sadly, it is nothing more than an old analog copy, with dulled highs and more hiss, of the original tape source, heard brilliantly on Divina DVN-11 and on the old Replica LP set, cat. no. 22. At least it's better than the 1998 EMI horror, but not even close to being in the same class as Divina. [17] LA TRAVIATA, Lisbon: the first of EMI's live ones, based on a tape originally belonging to tenor Alfredo Kraus. The 1980 LP was decent, as was the 1987 CD. Abbey Road engineers ruined it in 1997, and sadly, that's what Warner used. Quite awful. A new offering from ars_vocalis corrects all the flaws using a gorgeous (and correctly re-pitched) source that predates EMI. [18] IL PIRATA: EMI 1997/93, with speed/pitch-drift in first ten minutes (and throughout the opera) corrected. Blatantly obvious four analog generations away from the original tape (Divina, ars_vocalis). They even retained the same EMI 18 seconds of applause at the end of Act I, most fake (there are only 4 seconds in the original tape). Muted and distortion-accentuated exactly like EMI. [19] POLUTO: EMI (they even left the fake applause overlap from tracks 7-8 on CD-2), but not as crisp. [20] TOSCA 1/1964: muffled like Opera d'Oro and IMC (and EMI, made from these). Clearest version seems to be old Virtuoso 2697242. All have distortion. From my perspective, these editions produce often muffled or distant sound and muddy textures inferior to other masterings which retain the transparency, clarity of texture, true balances, and excitement of the best original sources. The set offers a very low price, but you generally get what you pay for, especially as there are no libretti. Given the many, and often bizarre, cuts in the editions used for these performances, the lack of libretti--even untranslated--is a serious additional liability: seasoned listeners, to say nothing of new ones, could have difficulty knowing where they were in the music, even following it with the score. The Blu-Rays of live filmed performances that are included are not noticeable improvements over their earlier DVD counterparts, and the same bizarrely revised version of the Paris 1958 Gala is used. Warner's treatment of the 20th century's greatest vocal artist has been shabby and shameful from beginning to end. This set is inexpensive, but no serious Callas enthusiast will want anything to do with it, opting for for Divina, ars_vocalis, and Myto in the few cases where the other two are unavailable. Get the real thing, not Warner's disgraceful, falsely hyped offering. ---Robert E. Seletsky ('Callas at EMI: Remastering and Perception'. 'A Callas Recording Update', 'The Performance Practice of Maria Callas', etc., _The Opera Quarterly_ 2000-2005)