This live Met broadcast from April 11, 1964 is a mixed bag. Nello Santi’s leadership is unexciting in both operas, and the chorus and orchestra are ragged in Cav (better in Pag). The list of singers is certainly impressive, and one or two come through with flying colors: If you like Richard Tucker’s particular brand of over-emoting and exploding final syllables, not to mention exaggerated Italian diction that is for the hard-of-hearing, then you will enjoy his robust, unsubtle, but vocally splendid Turiddu. Franco Corelli is a magnificent Canio; of course aspirating and scooping, but thoroughly involved and with a voice of solid gold.
Eileen Farrell’s Santuzza—a surprise role for her, to my knowledge—is not good. It is beautifully sung but startlingly bland and passive; Santuzza-as-wimp goes against the music. She may be self-pitying but she’s often in a rage; only Farrell’s outburst (“Bada!”), which is overdone and completely out-of-character with the remainder of her performance, is white-hot. It’s a truly strange reading of the role and very unsatisfying.
Lucine Amara’s Nedda is a gem—handsomely sung and involved, lovely in her duet with Calvin Marsh’s elegant Silvio, and able to stand up to Corelli-as-Canio’s madness in the finale. Anselmo Colzani’s Tonio is excellent without being special. He nails the A-flat near the end of the Prologue (and of course, the Met audience applauds for it, despite the aria not being over) but does not put enough of an individual stamp on the role. All of the other soloists are good and the sound is very good mono.
Except for Corelli—who recorded the role commercially—this isn’t necessary for most collectors. I repeat that it isn’t bad; it’s just run-of-the-mill and, in Farrell’s case, simply weird. Stick to the two Callas/di Stefano recordings (EMI) or the Domingo/Scotto/Levine Cavalleria (RCA) and/or the Corelli-sings-both roles on EMI.