This compilation of Leontyne Price's Mozart, from her 1965 Figaro to her 1977 Idomeneo, adds little to the recording industry's already thorough survey of her art. Those who buy for the singers will doubtless already possess much of what is here; those who buy for the song may well find more satisfying Mozart singing elsewhere.
The first six tracks show Price at her best in this field, even though the orchestral accompaniment (pre-Dolby recorded) tends to be thin and lustreless. The melancholy which lies behind the subtly varied moods of each of these arias is characteristically incarnated in the proud, plangent legato of Price's soprano: for ''Porgi amor'' she creates a near-vibratoless stillness which makes it seem one extended sigh of grief. Suddenly, as Susanna in ''Deh vieni'', the voice changes position, moves further towards the footlights, and opens out into that melting, mercurial seductiveness which is another, equally distinctive, aspect of her vocal art.
The voice lacks the agility, here, for Donna Anna's ''Non mi dir'' despite the support of the LSO and Edward Downes. The throat begins to ache, too, just listening to her Electra (''D'Oreste, d'Ajace''), and her 1965 Countess lacks the bloom of later recordings. Only in Donna Anna's ''Or sai chi l'onore'' (with the Italian orchestra) does the real lirico and the real spinto fuse to thrilling dramatic effect.'