Maria
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Reviewed as a download
Warner Classics 2173249224 [78]
On 29 November 2024, Warner Classics released the original motion picture soundtrack album of Maria, directed by Pablo Larraín and starring Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie. The film reimagines the final days of the legendary American-Greek soprano in Paris in 1977, twelve years after her last stage appearance in opera, as she assesses her identity and life. In the US, the film will be in selected theatres from 27 November and on Netflix in the U.S. on December 11, 2024. It is released in UK cinemas on 10 January 2025. The full album was released digitally on 29 November, with the physical release (CD and vinyl) following on 17 January 2025. In addition to Maria Callas’s original audio recordings, the soundtrack also features some spoken dialogue and scenes directly from the film.
Callas is heard in extracts from nine operas. The arias include ‘Casta diva’from Norma, ‘Vissi d’arte’ from Tosca, ‘Sempre libera’ from La traviata, ‘O mio babbino caro’ from Gianni Schicchi and ‘Ebben? Ne andrò lontana’ from La Wally. There are also numbers from Medea, I puritani, Anna Bolena and Otello. Among Callas’ collaborators on these recordings are the conductor Tullio Serafin, an important mentor to the soprano, and the Orchestra of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, the opera house that was at the heart of Callas’ career in the 1950s. Among the artists contributing to the newly recorded material on the album are conductor Péter Illényi and the Budapest Scoring Orchestra.
As producer of the soundtrack album, and as Supervising Sound Editor of the film, John Warhurst (who won an Academy Award for his work on the 2018 film Bohemian Rhapsody) was responsible for preparing the files containing Maria Callas’ voice for this recording. He involved Pablo Larrain (b. 1976) who is a Chilean producer and describes the process he followed in the CD brochure: “Idecided the first step would be to isolate Maria’s vocals from the original recordings. This allowed us to do the cleaning and restoration work to remove artefacts from her vocals that have nothing to do with her original performance.”
Of the 28 tracks on the album, four are short pieces of dialogue from the film. The other 24 tracks are made up as follows: Callas features on nine of these and in all cases her voice has been cleaned and restored. Three of the orchestral accompaniments to her voice are taken from the original catalogue recordings. One of these is Verdi’s “Sempre libera”which involves the Orchestra Sinfonicadi Torino della RAI conducted by Gabriele Santini. The other two involving Philharmonia Orchestra and Tullio Serafin are Puccini’s “O Mio Babbino Caro”and Catalani’s “Ebben? Ne andrò lontana”. All the other orchestral accompaniments include modifications and additional elements by John Warhurst, in collaboration with Budapest Scoring Orchestra (conductor Péter Illényi), Budapest Scoring Chorus and Károly Zentai (piano). The pieces are Verdi’s “Ave Maria”, Bellini’s “Casta Diva” and “Qui la voce sua soave”, Cherubini’s “E che, io son Medea”, Donizetti’s “Piangete voi”and Puccini’s “Visi d’arte”.
The CD also contains nine pieces of orchestral music and three pieces of piano with orchestral music based on well-known operas. Aggelina Papadopoulou (as the young Callas)sings on two tracks i.e. Panos Tountas’ (b. 1942) Why I Snort Cocaine and Georges Bizet’s (1838 – 1875) Habanera. Finally there is a track by Brian Eno (b. 1948) An Ending (Ascent) which will only be available on physical copies of the CD/LP and will not be included in a digital download.
The album is, of course, to accompany a film release and the music would certainly appeal to people who have enjoyed the film. The quality of the sound on the whole recording is first class and they have done an excellent job of “cleaning” Callas’ voice to really show off her exceptional talent. The one major disappointment to me is the scarcity of information in the CD brochure regarding composers and performers. In order to create the level of detail I have included in this review I have had to correspond with the very helpful staff at Warner Brothers on several occasions. If you love Callas’ voice maybe this is one for you.
Ken Talbot
Buying this recording via a link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free
Contents
Giuseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901)
Otello: Ave Maria (1880)
Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924)Tosca: Vissi d’arte (1900)
Maria Callas (soprano)
Budapest Scoring Orchestra/Péter Illényi
Verdi: Ave Maria (1880) Piano Version
Ave Maria (1880) Fully Orchestrated Piano Version
La traviata: Addio del passato
Károly Zentai (piano)
Budapest Scoring Orchestra/Péter Illényi
Il trovatore: Anvil Chorus (1853)
La traviata – Intermezzo (1853)
Nabucco -Va pensiero (Introduction) (1842)
Va Pensiero (1842)
Budapest Scoring Orchestra/Péter Illényi
La traviata:Sempre libera (1853)
Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della RAI/ Gabriele Santini
Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924)
Gianni Schicchi: O mio babbino caro (1918)
Maria Callas (soprano)
Philharmonia Orchestra/Tullio Serafin
Madama Butterfly: Humming Chorus (1904)
Tosca: E lucevan le stelle (1900)
Budapest Scoring Orchestra/Péter Illényi
Vincenzo Bellini (1801–1835)
Norma: Casta diva (1831)
I Puritani: Qui la voce sua soave(1835)
Maria Callas (soprano)
Budapest Scoring Orchestra/Péter Illényi
Alfredo Catalani (1854 – 1893)
La Wally: Ebben? Ne andrò lontana (1892)
Maria Callas (soprano)
Philharmonia Orchestra/Tullio Serafin
Luigi Cherubini (1760–1842)
Medea – Intermezzo(1797)
Budapest Scoring Orchestra/Péter Illényi
E che, io son Medea(1797)
Maria Callas (soprano)
Budapest Scoring Orchestra/Péter Illényi
Panos Tountas (b. 1942)
Why I Snort Cocaine
Aggelina Papadopoulou
Georges Bizet (1838 – 1875)
Carmen: Habanera (1875)
Aggelina Papadopoulou
Habanera (1875) (Jazz Version)
Budapest Scoring Orchestra/Péter Illényi
Richard Wagner (1813 – 1883)
Parsifal – Prelude(1882)
Budapest Scoring Orchestra/Péter Illényi
Gaetano Donizetti (1797 – 1848)
Anna Bolena: Piangete voi (1830)
Maria Callas (soprano)
Budapest Scoring Orchestra/Péter Illényi
Brian Eno (b. 1948)
An Ending (Ascent) PHYSICAL RELEASE ONLY
