The album comprises arias from the following films:-
Philadelphia; Diva; The Bridges of Madison County; A Room With a View;
Fatal Attraction; Trainspotting; The Fifth Element; Entrapment; Street Fighter;
My Geisha; Basquiat; Copycat - and from the UK TV advertisement for Ford Modeo
Many films use popular well-known, well-loved operatic arias as source music.
This album has seventeen of these sung by probably the best-known, best-loved operatic diva of the
20th century - Maria Callas (1923-1977). Her talent was immense, her virtuosity prodigious.
By dint of hard work and supreme dedication she rose to the top of her profession. Her acting was
applauded as much as her singing - one only has to watch her singing Vissi d'arte (from Puccini's
Tosca) to appreciate the great intensity she brought to her roles. [See my review of
The Art of Singing that includes this performance with the great Tito Gobbi as Scarpia].
Photographs of her in her prime, show her to have had the same sort of elfin beauty as Audrey Hepburn.
The press loved her; one of two Paris Match double-page spreads, devoted to her, commented,
" At the home of Puccini's granddaughter [the well-known Milanese couturier Biki], Callas
tries on her evening gown…" (for a gala concert on 19th December 1958 at the
Paris Opéra). Fame and 'scandal', the stuff of screenplays, followed Callas who died
prematurely a semi-recluse in Paris abandoned by Onassis. But the 'whims' and 'scandals' fade
into insignificance when her achievements are considered; her great musicality and her respect
for composers' works and interpretative intentions-- she never took liberties. The album includes
Callas in duets with other great voices of the century including the tenor Nicolai Gedda and baritone
Tito Gobbi. Any further comment or rating from me is as unnecessary as it is superfluous.
The arias (not all of them used in films) are as follows:-
Vincenzo BELLINI
Casta Diva (Norma) from The Bridges of Madison County and featured in the
Ford Mondeo ad.
Alfredo CATALANI
Ebben? Ne andrò lontana (La Wally) from Diva
Giacomo PUCCINI
O mio babbinio caro (Gianni Schicchi) from A Room With A View
Vissi d'arte (Tosca) from Copycat
Un bel dì vedremo (Madama Butterfly) from Fatal Attraction
and My Geisha
Sì, Mi chiamano Mimì (La bohème)
Donde lieta uscì (La bohème)
Giuseppe VERDI
Ah, fors' è lui (La Traviata)
Addio, del passato (La Traviata)
Christoph Willibald GLUCK
J'ai perdu mon Eurydice (Orphée et Eurydice)
Camille SAINT-SAËNS
Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix (Samson et Dalila) from
The Bridges of Madison County
Georges BIZET
L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (Habanera) (Carmen) from
Trainspotting and Entrapment
and Street Fighter
Près des remparts de Séville (Carmen) with Nicolai Gedda
Les tringles des sistres tintaient (Chanson bohème) (Carmen)
Gioachino ROSSINI
Una voce poco fa (Il barbiere di Siviglia)
Gaetano DONIZETTI
Spargi d'amaro pianto (Lucia di Lammermoor) with Tito Gobbi and
Raffaele Arié from The Fifth Element
Ian Lace
