This 1951 performance, never before available on CD (or so goes the claim), has been referred to so often as “legendary” that I was expecting solid gold. It’s not. True, Fritz Busch has a way with this opera that is certainly admirable: he balances the wacky with the transcendently lovely (the coda to “Un aura amorosa”, the “Soave sia il vento” trio); the recitatives always seem natural, as if these people actually know one-another; and the finales unfold with great verve. But the singing is not legendary. Much is made of Sena Jurinac’s Fiordiligi, and while I find it very good (if lacking some low notes), I’d rather hear Price, Kanawa, Schwarzkopf, or Caballé. Alice Howland, after some wildly off-pitch singing in the first duet, is a good Dorabella, but she doesn’t stay in the ear. The Swedish soprano Isa Quesnel is a very colorful Despina, but the recorded competition buries her too. Richard Lewis’ Ferrando is manly and lyrical–an excellent reading. Marko Rothmüller has an almost vibrato-less voice, but somehow his Guglielmo works well; he’s best in exclamatory passages. And Sesto Bruscantini’s Alfonso, known from other recordings, is fine–vivid and sneaky. The ensemble work is always good and the Glyndebourne forces, having been playing this opera since 1935, are masterful. The sound is lousy.
