A curious mixture of a performance. It is presumably based on a production by the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava (and the cover photograph shows Kincses and Dvorsky in Act 2 of what is recognizably the Bratislava staging of La boheme) but with two exceptions the principals are guests from elsewhere in Eastern Europe, and the orchestra and conductor are from Slovak Radio, not from the opera company. Despite acknowledgment of the services of a dramaturg and despite the best efforts of the recording engineers (who go to great lengths—at times distracting ones—to create an effect of movement about a stage: the march-past of the band in Act 2 is very spectacular, but why is Alcindoro allowed to hog the microphone?), the impression is of a group of characters who hardly relate to one another. The Bulgarian Marcello is a shade plummy and rather stolid (though Dvorsky's lyricism warms him up a bit for their Act 4 duet), the Hungarian Schaunard and Polish Colline use decent voices quite impassively, while the Musetta sparkles dutifully but not very steadily in Act 2 and makes nothing at all of her tiny but potentially very moving little solos in Act 4. The conductor seems intent for the most part on keeping things moving; that nobody actually falls off during his fast and inflexible accounts of the crowd scene in Act 2 is some sort of tribute both to him and to the chorus.
What makes this something more than a souvenir for visitors to the Slovak National Theatre is the singing of Kincses and Dvorsky. Neither is much of a singer actor, but both are mercifully prepared to sing quietly for much of the time. Their duets, when the conductor doesn't rush them, are sincere and touching, and her death-scene, using hardly a thread of voice, is moving. I wish that both would make more use of their words (Dvorsky gets a couple of his wrong) but his Italianate warmth and her delicate purity (when she doesn't harden the voice by over-singing) are both of the right metal for these roles.
Both are tarnished, alas, by a coarsely bright recording which acidifies strings as well as voices (very forwardly placed) and at times treats the triangle and the cymbals as co-soloists. Obviously not to be recommended above whatever your currently favourite Boheme is; but a useful reminder that the dozen or so superstars who make up the pool from which nearly all major opera recordings are cast are not the only worthwhile singers in the world.'