I have always found this a dramatically engrossing account of an opera that, for all its popularity, has always been hard to bring off both in the theatre and on record. No version is absolutely recommendable but I certainly prefer Muti's conducting and singers to Bonynge's on Decca. Muti combines fidelity to the letter of the score with a certain flexibility when his singers require it, and he seldom fails to illumine the score from within. Scotto's Violetta is far more detailed than Sutherland's, and on the whole more affectingly sung. However, CD does expose the beat in her tone above the stave under pressure, and those allergic to that kind of vocal frailty may prefer Sutherland, though when she made her second recording of the work her tone was no longer so fresh as it once was.
I also prefer EMI's Germonts—Kraus is more elegant though not quite so involved as Pavarotti, Bruson much more interesting than Manugerra; once against admired the interpretation of the work's central scene—the encounter between Violetta and Alfredo's father, where Scotto and Bruson sing with the utmost understanding of Verdi's requirements and with deep emotion.
Reservations continue to be felt about the recording which, coincidentally, are similar to those applicable to the Decca. The orchestra is too reverberant, and the soloists a little too distant, though EMI certainly avoid the suggestion of a bathroom on the Decca. On grounds of musical and histrionic veracity, the choice must be Muti and his admirable singers. But I must report that the first set supplied by EMI had a bad technical fault on the first disc; this caused that most distressing of sounds, a kind of electronic repetition that continued for about 20 seconds in each case. The substitute disc was faultless.'