Caballe Turandot sounds like miscasting, but in fact she's more often illuminating than over-stretched in the role. Yes, there are hints of strain in the scene of the riddles and elsewhere, but I don't think it is reluctance to risk too much in the way of fortissimo that persuaded her to sing many phrases with less voice than many more obviously qualified exponents of the part. A single example: she concludes the narrative section of ''In questa reggia'', the tale of the rape and murder of her ancestress Louling, not with the customary full-voiced trumpeting of her determination to avenge ''that shriek and that death'' but with a diminuendo. Turandot's pity for her remote forebear is audible, the fact that she does have a heart, ''girdled with ice'' though it may be, is made clear even in this demonstration of her implacability. Caballe's realization that a lot of Turandot's music can be sung quietly gives another moment of insight in her confrontation with Liu, where her wonderment at the tortured girl's fortitude is genuine, and this scene even gains from the fact that the two sopranos are vocally much more evenly matched than usual.
As Liu, Freni is if anything a bit too forcefully expressive, touching though she is. Carreras is in fine if mostly loud voice throughout, but his ''Non piangere, Liu'' is rendered viscous by a plodding tempo. The main disadvantage of this interesting performance in fact, is the noisy and fussy conducting of Alain Lombard, who makes most of the score sound coarse and lumbering. The recorded sound, too, is aggressive and not very clearly focused. For the rest, Plishka is a plummy and inexpressive Timur, Senechal makes not the least attempt to make the aged Emperor sound a day older than about 36, but the three Masks are fine.'