Recorded in 1956 in clear but boxy mono, with only a few cuts in repeats and superbly led by Tullio Serafin, this bargain set has a great deal going for it but must eventually be ruled out. Cesare Valletti is superb, the ideal tenore di grazia, singing with plaintive tone, rhythmic verve, impeccable legato, and free top notes as Carlo; he’s as good as Alfredo Kraus, his only real competition (on Opera d’Oro, also a bargain). Giuseppe Taddei, in the sympathetic role of Linda’s poor father, is in superb, fresh voice, and as always sings with intelligence and real attention to the text. The semi-villainous (he turns out to be okay) Marchese is sung by Renato Capecchi, who is terrific in his patter music, and Fedora Barbieri in the trouser role of Pierotto sings handsomely but sounds a bit matronly for this supposedly young man.
The set is sunk by Antonietta Stella’s Linda: a Verdi soprano thoroughly miscast as a coloratura/ingénue. Perhaps miffed at the fact that Callas and Tebaldi were being recorded in all of her roles by major labels, Stella took what she could, but her heavy, joyless delivery of “O luce di quest’anima” bodes badly, and in fact, she never quite gets the role. She sings all the notes, but there’s an emotional and tonal hole in the middle of the opera. Stick with the Opera d’Oro, or for a modern, superb-sounding set, Edita Gruberova shines on Nightingale.
