Pagliacci (1954)

While Pagliacci's regular companion piece, Cavalleria rusticana, figured prominently in Callas's early career, Leoncavallo's one-acter had no place in her stage repertoire. But as Gramophone wrote of this recording: 'When Callas [as Nedda] and Gobbi [as Tonio] are on the stage the drama is strikingly unfolded...There has been [no Nedda] more urgently or pressingly feminine than Callas...the only one to create real tension at the idea of Canio reading her thoughts; the only one to give meaning...to her mood as the birds fly overhead; and...the only one to greet her lover with delight.'