Does anyone at a label ever listen to the finished product when they remaster a recording? Do they even know what to listen for? Evidently not. Here we have what remains the finest available recording of Saint-Saëns’ operatic masterpiece, but don’t take its predecessor off to the used CD shop just yet. This newcomer differs from the perfectly fine older edition in three respects: (1) It’s transferred at a higher level; (2) It adds an uncomfortable degree of harshness to brass and percussion sonorities; (3) Rita Gorr’s voice now distorts on many loud high notes. Now, Dalila is the lead role, and while her big aria “Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix” escapes unscathed (barely), the final duet with the High Priest and several other sections now sound painful. It’s such a shame, the more so as it seems to have been so easily avoidable. There’s no point in further comment. If you have the last reissue, keep it. If not, you have little choice, as no other performance even comes close to this one vocally. But someone at EMI was asleep at the quality control switch. [9/24/2001]
