Maria Callas vinyl discography

At the beginning of her career (1949–1953), Callas was under an exclusive contract with the Italian label Cetra.

For Cetra, she officially recorded in the studio:

• Her very first 78 rpm records (1949): Featuring arias from Norma, I puritani, and Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.

• La Gioconda (1952): Her first-ever complete opera studio recording.

• La traviata (1953): A famous recording that legally prevented EMI from cutting a studio Traviata with her for years.

Aside from these Cetra sessions and the Mercury Medea, the rest of her official studio legacy was indeed produced for EMI / Columbia When EMI launched Angel Records in the US in 1953 to distribute its European catalog, it initially imported physical discs manufactured at its UK plants. These mono records featured the red label. However, starting in the late 1950s—as stereo gained popularity and Angel operations shifted to Capitol Records in the US—manufacturing moved to American pressing plants. These US releases, which adopted the light blue label, are generally considered to be of lower quality than their British counterparts. In Japan, however, the record pressing was managed by Nippon Columbia until 1962. The company received metal works from the UK to produce its own stampers and press the vinyl. Around 1962, this contract was terminated, and Toshiba Musical Industries took over from Nippon Columbia. Unlike Nippon Columbia, Toshiba cut the masters in Japan using the British master tapes.