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- Pen style scribe with tungsten carbide tip.
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Average Rating : 
Rating :  - 3 Reasons to Own: Bellini, Callas, Bernstein!
This is a beatiful opera, one of Bellini's best and most beloved. I would love to have a translation of the libretto (it's only in Italian), but I have several synopses of the plot...and it's the music and the singing, anyway. The booklet is well produced and contains nice photos of the cast, conductor, and Maria Callas. I can only give the CD a "4" star rating due to the average, monophonic sound quality. However, there are two bonus tracks from a performance in Cologne with Votto conducting, and the quality of these tracks is very good, indeed. Bernstein conducts at his not unusual slow tempo, and this brings out the inherent beauty of the opera in every detail. It really works with the finale because it allows Mme. Callas to create beautiful decorative embellishments at what appears to be a rapid pace. This brings the audience at La Scalla to their feet with many bravos. One caution: I own an excellent CD player which only has 2x oversampling, and the first disc would not play.
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