I find an appreciable improvement in sound quality here over the equivalent LPs, also the usual sense of increased immediacy; the recording is amazingly faithful to the dedicated performance of the big chorus. It is a further boon to have the vast work easily contained on only three CDs as opposed to four LPs. The banding is generous, so that it is easy to select your own extracts should you not always want to hear the complete opera.
My reactions to the performance are as they were in December, except that I may have increased my respect for the authenticity of all the singing: it is simply a pleasure to listen to Russians, rather than foreigners, declaiming their native tongue and to sense, particularly in many of the smaller roles, the benefits of long acquaintance with these parts, Piavko's rough singing remains an inevitable drawback, as does the wobbling of one or two others; but by and large this remains a splendid achievement, now heard that much more vividly.'