"Eboli does not steal this Don Carlo. Angelo Lo Forese delivers beauty and power with laser like focus, rounded and deep. On the phrase "maledetto io son (?)....." during the duet with Elisabeth the audience cries out BRAVO! after he delivered a climactic heavy metal Bflat that broke into fireworks on its release - a superb note it was! Moreover, his performance is beautifully accented and sensually attractive. A hardness of tone stops him from being the ideal robusto. Cerquetti is really wonderful and now Caniglia has been relegated to my second Elisabeth. She sings so beautifully that the occasionally thin top notes don't bother me at all. Thin, however, Barbieri never is, but she lacks any top at all. Sad indeed, because her voice is simply glorious in the middle. Bastianini sang richly as usual as did the wonderful Siepi.
The voices are miraculously vivid in this well mastered recording.
I love the bold conducting of Antonino Votto and he makes a pontentially dull opera shine like penny and sheen!