I have always felt this set somewhat underrated even by myself. Now that RCA have remastered it to such excellent effect on CD, a reassessment in its favour seems the more imperative. In terms of sound alone it stands up very well to its more modern rivals; indeed I would certainly prefer it to the more recent RCA under Levine or to the EMI under Maazel. It has more sense of a real performance to it with an ideal balance between voices and orchestra. But then Richard Mohr was a very experienced producer, who even moved his singers about in an appropriate way to describe the action. Without the nasty side breaks on LP, we can appreciate even better the consistency of the recording and, of course, of Serafin's unfussy conducting, not as immediately exciting as Maazel's, but yielding up its benefits over the long span. It is true that the Rome Opera Orchestra and Chorus do not always sound totally unanimous but you do feel they have the music in their bones.
Vickers may not be quite such an anguished, totally involved Moor as he was later to become in Karajan's second version (EMI), but here he is in securer voice and his singing as such comes close to some kind of Otello ideal, more metallic and heroic than Domingo's (for both Levine and Maazel) though not necessarily more sensitive than that of the younger tenor. Gobbi's lago remains irreplaceable—except possibly by Valdengo's on the Toscanini, incidentally promised before long on CD from RCA. His imagining of the part in purely vocal terms is something of a classic, varied in diction and tone, alert in mind so that a presence comes before us at home: listen to him in the recitative after the Credo—''aiuto Satana'' indeed. The whole scene following with Vickers is an object-lesson in vocal acting.
Rysanek isn't everyone's first choice as Desdemona; she isn't completely happy in her Italian phraseology or ideally steady. In compensation she sings with a gentleness and tender pathos that many Italian sopranos cannot match (though Ricdarelli does so on the Maazel version)—listen to ''dammi la dolce e lieta parola'' in the Second Act concertato.
So this version is certainly competitive, particularly at mid-price. I don't prefer it to the Maazel or indeed to the Levine much liked by HF on its CD issue. The even olJer Karajan (Decca) has a deal to commend as I reported at its CD appearance, so that I find an outright choice impossible, but I shall myself certainly want this one by me for Gobbi's lago and for the earlier of Vickers's tragic portrayals of the tormented Moor.'