The Voice of Elena Souliotis

Elena Souliotis, hailed as a successor to Maria Callas, resembled a comet that flashed brightly across the operatic scene and was all too soon extinguished. With a lifelong love of horseriding and the outdoors, she often commented that she preferred animals to people.  She spent much of her childhood in the spectacular garden of her parents’ home in Buenos Aires, only starting to train her voice when she was 16. While she was active, she recorded some memorable discs for Decca in the mid-1960s, most of the ‘plums’ of which are included here, recalling the excitement she then created. This collection, which first appeared on Decca’s ‘Grandi Voci’ series, includes a complete recital recorded by Decca; Santuzza’s aria ‘Voi lo sapete’ from the complete recording of Mascagni’s ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’ and items by Verdi and Ponchielli recorded at the same sessions under Silvio Varviso. Also included are one of her calling cards, Abigaille’s terrifying Act II scena ‘Ben io t’invenni’ from the complete and much-prized recording of Verdi’s ‘Nabucco’ by Lamberto Gardelli plus an aria from Donizetti’s ‘Anna Bolena’.

GIUSEPPE VERDI
Nabucco: Ben io t’invenni … Anch’io dischiuso un giorno … Salgo già del trono aurato
Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor
Wiener Opernorchester
Lamberto Gardelli

Macbeth: Nel dì della vittoria … Ambizioso spirito … Vieni! t’affretta! … Or tutti sorgete
Luisa Miller: Tu puniscimi, o Signore … A brani, a brani, o perfido
Un ballo in maschera: Morrò, ma prima in grazia

GAETANO DONIZETTI
Anna Bolena: Piangete voi? … Al dolce guidami castel natio (Final scene)
Orchestra dell’Opera di Roma
Oliviero de Fabritiis

PIETRO MASCAGNI
Cavalleria rusticana: Voi lo sapete

GIUSEPPE VERDI
Un ballo in maschera: Ecco l’orrido campo … Ma dall’arido stelo
La forza del destino: Pace, pace, mio Dio

AMILARE PONCHIELLI
La Gioconda : Suicidio!
Orchestra di Roma
Silvio Varviso

Elena Souliotis, soprano