Although (quite rightly) JBS pointed out in his April 1984 ''Quarterly'' that Freni, Domingo, Bruson and Ghiaurov aren't quite the equal of Ponselle, Martinelli, de Luca and Pinza, a view with which I wholeheartedly concur, I still believe that, caught live in La Scala, they give as accomplished Verdi singing as we are likely to encounter today and rather better than we have enjoyed, Callas, Tebaldi and Bergonzi perhaps apart, in more recent times. Indeed, listening again, I found rather more merit in Freni's singing than I had remembered. She, like the others, is completely inside her role and perhaps only the need to project in a large theatre causes her to force occasionally as recorded. That apart, the advantages of the live performance are many, not least because you actually feel you are in the theatre listening to a quartet of singers giving the kind of uninhibited interpretations so hard to match under studio conditions. Stage and audience noises are not notably more prominent on CD than they were on LP, and the contributions of La Scala forces add to the authenticity of this really Italianate account of the raw, vibrant score. Verdi is well served by being heard so faithfully near his home.'