A triptych here, with ''The Art...'' as the big central panel and the others symmetrical in content and interest on either side. Among those who approach the altar there will no doubt be both believers and sceptics, but the majority will be ordinary visitors to the shrine, always hoping for revelation but prepared simply to get as much as they can from what the experts proclaim a masterpiece, and to feel as they pass on that perhaps something has eluded them for they can't help noticing the smudges, the flakes and flaws.
Certainly it would be unfortunate if the experience were to start (as mine did) with the first tracks of ''The Incomparable Callas''. Incomparable she was indeed, and especially incomparable was her Norma; but just about the last place to look to is her ''Casta diva'', particularly in the second recording of the opera. All that is 'incomparable' here are the chromatic scales; plenty of sopranos have sung the aria better. Again, if the Fountain scene in Lucia is to be selected, the first rather than the second recording has the voice in something like good condition, whereas in the second we flinch, almost involuntarily, before the high notes. Then the Ernani aria, and more flinching, with unlovely tone in the cadenza and a horrid B flat at the end. But of course the truly incomparable Callas is not to be found or only incidentally—in such arias: her greatness lay in something else and it suddenly breaks through into the light of day with ''Ritorna vincitor'', which is not so much an aria as a dramatic monologue. Here she is magnificent in intensity, unfailing in the appreciation of changing moods and the ability to seize the crucial moment. From then on there is much to relish much that is simply unmissable, even in those later recordings when the soprano tone has worn badly, beauty remaining only in the mezzo range.
Maria Callas Sings Operatic Arias'' is almost a mirror-image of the ''Incomparable'', though it makes a better start. Once more there are moments of loose or raw tone, and then suddenly a passage where Callas the Great emerges and sends a shiver down the spine. Again there is a ''Vissi d'arte'', and it is the same one (why?). Again there are two excerpts from Carmen and some other mezzo-soprano solos including Dalila's ''Printemps qui commence'', beautifully sung and so assured in its restraint, its occasional thrilling portamento, its slimlined voice that has no interest in the sultry, cloying ways of the conventional vamp.
In the big four-disc set, which is clearly the centrepiece, a better process of selection has been at work: indeed, the programme has been exceptionally well thought out by Jacques Bourgeois, and itself forms a similarly balanced triptych, with the 'tragic' and the verismo heroines (one disc each) as the outer panels, and the 'romantic' heroines (two discs) in the middle. This stands a much better chance of capturing ''The incomparable Callas'' because it includes whole scenes rather than simply arias. Thus, Norma is represented not by ''Casta diva'' but by the formidable phrases of ''In mia man alfin tu sei'' going through to the end of the opera. Lady Macbeth is there in the complete Sleep-walking scene (the haunted voice, the scornful ''Oh, vergogna''), Tosca in the Love Duet (first version), and Violetta is live from Lisbon. But why, I wonder, is the date of the Lisbon performance not given? (it was March 27th, 1958); and why, when Bourgeois correctly gives 1954 as the date of the Norma recording, does the list of contents have ''P 1953''? Why in the other recitals are we not given the dates of recording at all (except, inconsistently, once), but only publication dates? (The ''Ritorna vincitor'' for instance, was published in 1972 but recorded in 1964—which is what we need to know.) ''Mon coeur s'ouvre'' is said to have been published in 1962, not in the UK, however, where it first appeared in 1983. The reviewer then was RO who concluded: ''Records like this change people's lives.'' That is the way with shrines, and (despite some criticism) these new issues contribute handsomely to the upkeep.'