With one basilisk exception, all things work together here to provide a happy memento of the musical side (which is what one wants to remember) of the Covent Garden production, on which the recording is based. Maazel made his debut at the house conducting the opera in 1978; Luisa was the role that presented Ricciarelli at her best and most poignant; Bruson was new to us at that time, and sang with a full, round beauty of tone not heard in such music for many years; Domingo, with Otello worked into his voice, had developed more thrust and tension in his singing. Gwynne Howell, from the resident company, showed himself worthy of his prestigious colleagues; and Ganzarolli, if no great pleasure to listen to, brought plenty of character to the well-named Wurm. Odd woman out, Obraztsova on the recording makes the Countess Federica descend upon the Tyrol like Katisha upon Titipu: a huge sound, which the Countess's music and character have done nothing to deserve.
This is one of three viable recordings of the opera, two of which are likely to find their way on to CD sooner or later. RCA's 1966 version is the earliest of them, with Anna Moffo (accomplished), Cornell Ma c Neil (dull), Bergonzi (distinguished) and Shirley Verrett, an affectionate, sympathetic Countess. Fausto Cleva's unimaginative conducting was shown up by Peter Maag's sensitive reading on the 1976 Decca recording strongly cast with Caballe, Pavarotti and Milnes. Compared with Maag, Maazel is a mere businessman in his handling of this score, and honours are fairly even in comparing the two casts and recorded sound. It might, then, be worth waiting to see if a CD of that recording appears in Decca's lists: it must be very eligible. Otherwise, there is much to enjoy here, particularly as it has some of the most lustrous singing of a Verdi baritone role in modern times. The opera itself is newly impressive: written before Rigoletto, it looks ahead to Simon Boccanegra and even Don Carlos, sometimes with a tenderness and tragic intensity that amply justify its reviving fortunes in recent times.
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