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NOT THIS Close Encounters of the Third Kind: 30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition in Blu-ray from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

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Maria Callas died 30 years ago, but her voice remains eternal, as EMI Classics reminds us with the release next week of The Eternal Maria Callas ($24.98), a compilation commemorating the anniversary of the Greek-American singer's early death at age 53 in 1977.

The DVD features a generous sampling of material in three categories: "Maria Callas on stage," "Maria Callas — her life" and "Maria Callas speaks." However, those seeking to understand what all the fuss is about should head directly to the recital clips. There, in arias performed onstage in Paris, London and Hamburg (featuring highlights from such operas as Puccini's "Tosca," Rossini's "Il barbiere di Siviglia" and Verdi's "Don Carlo"), you can see why the soprano continues to have an almost cultlike following. The range of her singular voice, amply displayed here, was simply astonishing.

EMI also offers a special treat, a Rome performance of "Casta Diva" from Bellini's "Norma" on New Year's Eve 1957, which appears on DVD for the first time. Miss Callas never, perhaps, performed a role more beautifully than this one — and it more than makes up for the less than stellar work she did in "Carmen" in Hamburg in 1962 that shouldn't have made it on an otherwise well-chosen disc.

A British documentary provides the basics on her turbulent life, with comments from, among others, conductor Carlo Maria Giulini and director Franco Zeffirelli. Her great love, Aristotle Onassis, apparently had no respect for her artistic life, asking her, "Why do you bother to sing? I've got plenty of money."

Unfortunately, not all of the interview clips are in English, but many are, and you can see that the elegant woman (often referred to as the classic diva) taking questions about her reputation — such as accusations of temper tantrums — is a lot more good-natured than today's celebrities.

Other just-released EMI offerings: three operas from the Zurich Opera House, led by conductor (and Cleveland Orchestra music director) Franz Welser-Most, on DVD (Mozart's "Don Giovanni," Benjamin Britten's "Peter Grimes" and Schubert's "Fierrabras") all in two-disc sets priced at $24.98.

Two of those titles should be familiar, but perhaps the third isn't. As Richard Lawrence declares in his liner notes to the Schubert work, "Early Romantic German opera is a dead letter." The first half of the 19th century is when (according to opera aficionados) the Italians dominated. But plenty of good music was composed elsewhere as well, including compositions by the Austrian-born master better known for his songs and chamber works. "Fierrabras" didn't get its first performance in Vienna until 1988. Yet it's filled with the same heartfelt, melancholic music as the composer's other works. This 2005 staging is both clever and cute by turns, although sometimes too much of the latter — men in 18th-century clothes look a bit silly high-fiving each other — but the quality of the singing is high, as are the production values.

— Kelly Jane Torrance

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