Stratospheric lo-fi!
The sound quality is just bearable (somebody in the audience with a reel-to-reel deck?) But... The singing is remarkable. Callas in the early fifties was like a supreme athlete who took vocal dares no other singer would dream of! Here, in the Act II finale of Aida, she jumps up to an (unwritten) top E flat, like a siren, blasting her way over the, orchestra & chorus in full cry. The audience cheers like a bull-fight crowd at the kill! Is is High Art? I don't know, but it is extraordinary to listen to and try to imagine yourself in the the theatre as Callas sang. All modern singers are but pale shadows.
