"This is a cheap way to get to know this wonderful opera - one of the most performed of its era and now largely neglected - but ultimately it's a false economy to buy this if you can lay your hands on the other studio recording conducted by Adam Fischer and featuring a galaxy of Hungarian stars plus the eminent German tenor Siegfried Jerusalem. The women are good in this American recording of a live performance but the sound is often patchy, the coughing fearsome and the tenor several sizes too small of voice for the role. The music is wonderful: exotic, lush, dramatic, with echoes of late Verdi and Wagner. But go for the Hungaroton."
False bargain
Jaromir Benesch | New York, New York United States | 12/29/2007
(2 out of 5 stars)
"a cheap but third rate recording of a great neglected opera.
Go out of your way and find the Hungariton recording with Siegfried Jerusalem. Arley Reese is a disaster in the tenor role which features Caruso's favorite aria " The Magic Tone." Strange as it may seem now, this opera was the most performed work at the Metropolitan Opera in the 19th Century, and its a shame to buy such a poor rendition as this"