This is a serviceable account of La boheme, craftily given a new lease of life by labelling it ‘centenary edition’ and by using the same artwork as the recent run of performances mounted and skilfully publicized by the impresario Raymond Gubbay at the Royal Albert Hall in London and elsewhere.
Scotto sings a lovely “Si, mi chiamano Mimi”, and her phrasing is always beautiful, but there are numerous signs elsewhere of a voice that by this date would no longer take the pressure put on it. Although Kraus sounds at times a rather mature Rodolfo, he sings with his characteristic lyrical elegance; the set would be worth hearing on his account alone. With the exception of Plishka (one of the wobbliest accounts of Colline’s “Vecchia zimarra” that I have ever heard) the other Bohemians are a lively lot, led by Milnes’s characterful Marcello (he would need all the character he could muster for a life with Neblett’s determined, full-voiced and not in the least roguish Musetta). Levine keeps things moving without ever suggesting that he really loves the score, just as the recording, though it dutifully marshals the singers in appropriate places, never gives much sense of a drama played out on a stage. There are many better Bohemes on the market, and several are not much dearer than this one (notably, of course, Beecham’s quite outstanding account) but no one newly smitten by the opera will find this performance of it disappointing.'