Maria Callas - At Covent Garden (2CD+1DVD)

After the six performances of Tosca at the Royal Opera House in 1964, a Golden Hour TV gala was arranged at Covent Garden for the night of Sunday 9 February and it included the whole of the second act of Tosca. As the transmission was live, there was no opportunity for any editing, and in those days the camera work at such an event was still fairly basic, with the camera usually on the face of the person singing, even though this meant not seeing the reaction of Callas in certain dramatic moments. But in spite of these shortcomings, this visual record of Callas in Act 2 of Tosca is an invaluable document, preserving at least a part of that final stage triumph of the great diva, in a setting worthy of her art.