It used to be said, and is sometimes still repeated, that Callas had to be seen. Listeners to her records will be likely to respond: “Oh, but we do see her ... in every sound she makes”. Perhaps that exaggerates; and certainly the experience of having seen her helps, whether this is ‘in the flesh’ or, as here, on film. It helps, for instance, if one has once seen that smile ... though I’m not sure that one needs to go on seeing. There is a good deal of smiling in this video, a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, bowing and radiating happiness in the occasion. She smiles also through the introduction to “Una voce poco fa” and the Prelude to Carmen, then, as Carmen herself, with a more provocative twist to the lips, and, as Lady Macbeth, momentarily with a predatory, almost bird-like excitement. Her face is the camera’s sole concern. For quite long stretches of time she stands without singing but making visible response to the music. The wistful, retrospective glance of la Cenerentola, the noble resolution of Elisabeth de Valois, and, best of all, the flash of desperate self-recrimination in the eyes of the Princess Eboli: these are all precious things to have, caught forever in this filming of two concerts. Yet memory does a great service by concentrating the two-hour span into a few moments of vivid recall: I’m not sure that I would want to see the whole lot again.
As for the singing, if it will not go under the heading ‘the best of Callas’ it is still sometimes thrilling, sometimes beautiful, at all times alive with feeling and thought. In the three years between concerts, the vibrations have loosened, the tone thinned, but the repertoire is well chosen to suit, and the “O don fatale” makes a marvellous climax. To some extent, eyes distract the ears’ attention, yet they provide some theoretical understanding too – how, for instance, the somewhat desperate sound of a high note accords with the wide-openness of the mouth while making it. The fascination is undeniable.
This, it should be added, is a very plain video. No written notes accompany it; no announcement is made of the various items; the camera-work is hardly adventurous. Also, a discrepancy arises concerning the date of the first concert: the video gives May 18th, while other sources (John Ardoin, David Lowe) give the 15th.'