However arresting the film for which this recording forms the soundtrack may be (see page 20), the set has to be judged, of course, on its musical merits alone, and it has to face comparison with those various merits of the three versions listed above. I cannot say that just looking at the cast, conductor, chorus and orchestra made my heart leap with expectation, especially with the special merits of the Abbado in mind. For one thing, Verrett is ten years older than when she recorded the Abbado/DG set and was then well into mid-career. Even in 1976 the role sometimes seemed to stretch the upper limits of her voice; now that top sounds somewhat worn, and despite Verdi's well-known injunctions for this part, I dont't think he would necessarily have liked what we hear here. Interpretatively, Verrett doesn't seem to have developed her ideas about Lady Macbeth at all. Her's remains a powerful assumption, but not a particularly subtle one. She is still admirable in the way she obeys most of Verdi's markings, especially those for sotto voce singing, and she attacks ''Or tutti sorgete'' and the ''O volutta'' section of ''La luce langue'' as fearlessly as before but now the gear changes, always there, are more obvious. Both ''La luce langue'' and the Sleepwalking scene seem a shade less spontaneous than with Abbado, but that has more to do with the conducting than with the singing, I think.
Nucci's Macbeth is full of the right sense of fear, foreboding and nervous energy, and it is predominantly well sung but tonally, beside Cappuccilli (Abbado) and Bruson (Sinopoli/Philips), Nucci sounds ordinary and he is inclined to oversing at climaxes. However, I like the way he suggests Macbeth's terror after murdering Duncan, indeed his reading is more than serviceable but, just not quite in his rivals' class.
Ramey provides quite the best singing, a sturdy, imposing Banquo. Luchetti, always a tenor I have admired, sounds definitely battle-weary here, his voice tending to go sour under pressure, yet there is much plangent feeling in his aria. The smaller roles are very well taken.
The Bologna forces are a variable quantity. There sounds to be a good number of—(shall we say?)—mature singers in the chorus providing rather rusty tone—fair enough where the ladies are concerned, for the witches, not too happy in the party scene. The orchestra is good enough—until you compare it with its La Scala rival (Abbado), which is an altogether superior band.
Which brings me to the specific comparisons I made. In ''La luce langue'', the Abbado set scores all along the line when compared with Chailly in finesse, dramatic tension and overall view; while Sinopoli seems all the more wilful than before—a steady tempo hardly maintained for a bar, the basic pulse too quick (as it is with Muti on EMI). Almost the same results were evident listening to the duet for the Macbeths at the end of the Apparition scene—here, the difference between Verrett's two recordings is made all too obvious, Cappuccilli's authority surpassed Nucci's. My only surprise here was a preference for Sinopoli who seems to squeez more out of the accompanying figures than his colleagues—something that is due not a little to the more satisfying, that is natural and evenly balanced, recording. The Decca recording, made in a Bolognese church is well balanced and clear, but slightly hollow where the orchestra is concerned.
I have not said a great deal about Chailly himself (Karajan's choice to open the 1984 Salzburg Festival with this work) for the simple reason that his direction seems direct, unfussy and keen without evincing the histrionic flair, the taut control, or the rhythmic consistency of the Abbado, but Chailly indulges in none of the extremes of speed found in Muti's version nor the start-stop tactics of Sinopoli. So Abbado remains the favourite in this work, still by quite a wide margin. Chailly doesn't play the ballet music; neither does Abbado. It is included in the Sinopoli and Muti.
The Decca set is contained on two LPs and two CDs. Muti's two-LP version is the best bargain at mid-price (and Cossotto and Milness are no mean interpreters of the central roles, but it is Abbado who comes closest to a consistent view of the subtle amalgamation of the 1847 and 1865 revisions. On CD. I found it, once more, wholly engrossing.'