Puccini: Turandot
This is a would-be classic. The younger, pudgier Maria Callas  sang the role of Turandot with a hurricane force that's rarely been equaled.  But by 1958--when this recording was made--the slimmer, wiser Callas had  less of the vocal power required by the opera's Act II shouting match (also  known as "The Riddle Scene"), and the character's simplistic motivation  (beheading suitors as a way of not dealing with her sexual frigidity)   offered little for her sophisticated theatrical imagination. As the  suitor who breaks through her barriers, tenor Eugenio Fernandi is little  better than adequate. Elsewhere, there are strong pluses: In the  uncharacteristic role of Liu, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf summons the honeyed  tone of her earlier years as well as the dramatic specificity of her  maturity. Conductor Tullio Serafin gives one of his most  individualistic, dramatically memorable interpretations. He never lets  you forget this is an ugly story about barbaric people, underscoring  Puccini's every dissonance and inspiring a supremely vivid performance  from the La Scala chorus.--David Patrick Stearns