Don Pasquale is a marvellous opera to come back to—there is always so much more to it than one has remembered. As far as the orchestra's part in it is concerned, the new recording will very probably reveal more than one has ever known existed. Time and again the voices chatter away to the accompaniment of something beguiling in the strings, never (on records at least) so magical in effect as here. Or a passage of ensemble will be introduced by a few bars in which the rhythms finely and freshly pointed, sparkle like an old piece of silver brought to the light and given a good polish. In this respect the recording scores decisively over its immediate predecessor. Heinz Wallberg, in the Eurodisc/Target version noted above, conducted a serviceable performance, not without grace and charm, and preferable on balance to earlier sets. But this one has a much more imaginative touch, a lighter spring in its step, a surer sense of pace. The playing too has more refinement and the recorded sound more warmth and body.
Vocally there is also much to recommend in it, notably in the contribution of Gosta Winbergh. This young tenor has been gaining a considerable reputation, in the Florence and Salzburg festivals for example, and his beautifully-defined voice records well. His timbre has character and his style possesses that most desirable but rarely found quality in lyric tenors, that of poise. He sings the Serenade admirably and the little solo in Act 1, ''Sogno soave e casto'', even better, contrasting with Araiza who, under Wallberg's stolid direction, robbed it of all its airy charm. Freni, returning in perhaps surprisingly good shape from the 'heavies', joins him to make ''Tornami a dir che m'ami'' as graceful as it used to be in Schipa's time, but with some of the tricky parts, traditionally omitted, now restored. Nucci, as Malatesta, turns in a more polished performance than his recent Verdi recital (Decca 410 159-1, 3/84) might lead one to expect. He makes a good deal less havoc of the vocal line in ''Bella siccome un angelo'' than did Bernd Weikl for Wallberg, and he articulates his triplets clearly. The veteran Bruscantini presents a credible Pasquale, without buffoonery or any of the mouthings and exaggerations that normally pass for humour in this role. The restraint, sheer gain for most of the time, brings a loss in the Patter Duet. As in the Wallberg recording, it is shorn of traditional 'business', which could carry an infectious gaiety in the opera house and (as the ancient De Luca/Coradetti—Fonotipia 39975—showed) on record. It whizzes through, not so much sung as enunciated. There are other places in the recording where I would have liked a little more breathing space, and perhaps more freedom for the soloists: for example, after listening to Freni I fetched out a 1928 recording of ''So anch'io'' by Fritzi Jokl (Parlophone E10884, 9/29) and instantly found a delicate charm of quite a different order, closely related, I fancy, to the freedom to interpolate a delicious piece of ornamentation between verses.
The charm of the new recording lies in the ensemble work (the quartets of Act 2 especially), the elegance of Gosta Winbergh's tenor, and the excellence of the orchestral playing. It is also a genuine production, with a sense of occasion: a sparkling occasion too and a pleasure to attend.'