Verdi: La Forza del Destino [The Force of Destiny] (Complete Opera recorded in 1954)

Relentlessly pursued by Fate, Leonora in La forza del destino is a haunted heroine whose passions and fears are expressed on a grand scale. Callas's stage experience of Forza was limited to her early career in Italy - in fact, Leonora was her first Verdi role - but, as Lord Harewood, founder of Opera magazine, observed, her recorded assumption exhibited 'an unparalleled musical sensibility and imagination and a grasp of the musico-dramatic picture which is unique'. She took her place in a powerful cast conducted by her mentor Tullio Serafin.