This recording of Guglielmo Tell (a somewhat cut, Italian translation of Guillaume Tell, Rossini's last opera, composed for Paris) has been around in many forms over the years. Taped and recorded by RAI, its main attraction is the Matilde of the great, short-careered Anita Cerquetti, who lives up to her reputation as a big, exhilarating, spinto soprano, with agility and temperament to spare. Whenever she's singing the performance takes on a real glow. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is the unlikely Tell, and while he sings with great nuance, his voice does not have the Italianate ripeness one would like in the part--a part that, granted, always tends to be overshadowed by the soprano and tenor. Ah, the tenor! Gianni Jaia makes a valiant stab at Arnoldo's music, complete with high Bs, Cs, and (almost) C-sharps, but he sounds for the most part as if he's just hoping to live through the evening. He's quite bad at first, merely adequate later--but then again, the part is almost impossible.

But just when you've given up, Myto includes as a bonus extended highlights from a 1972 performance from Florence under Riccardo Muti, with Nicolai Gedda singing the role as it should be sung, including a breakneck-speed final cabaletta that would leave most tenors gasping in the wings. Eva Marton is the pretty good Matilde here; Norman Mittleman doesn't impress as Tell. The sound throughout is substandard but listenable. Buy this for the third CD's excerpts and for Cerquetti; better yet, stick to the stunning Pavarotti/Freni/Milnes/Chailly set on Decca.

--Robert Levine