Legend
What's the reason for all the fuss about sopranoMaria Callas, whose life story  is like a study inGreek  tragedy? Her great gift was not purity of tone or emission, reliability,  or sheer loveliness; it was, rather, her ability to change her vocal color and  style to suit not only particular periods of opera but to get under the skin  of the individual characters she portrayed: Bellini's priestess Norma  performing a sacred rite; Puccini's sweetly hopeful Mimí fromLa Bohèmeand his  innocentButterfly; Verdi's  courtesanVioletta; Bizet's  sultry, adultCarmen;  Donizetti's ravingLucia, and  many others--and you'll believe them all. Much--though not all--of the program  is identical to the 1993 anthologyLa Divina, though there  has been some remastering since then. It's a perfect way to sample the art of  Callas and begin to understand why, decades after her death, she remains one  of the opera world's most revered performers.--Robert Levine