I recall my anticipation when this 1973 recording was first announced, and I equally recall my disappointment upon hearing it. I found James Levine’s conducting too veristic, thought that Sills was past her prime and sounded wobbly, admired Shirley Verrett’s Adalgisa but felt that her voice did not blend well with Sills’, was bored by Paul Plishka, and had the same impression of Enrico di Giuseppe that I always did at the New York City Opera–that he was useful and tried hard but nothing more. The ABC recording was disgracefully bad–distorted and blaring–and Levine’s noisy leadership didn’t help.
Well, 36 years have passed and I feel almost the same. One difference is that I’m finding less fault with Sills (I may have been upset that she was not Callas). True, she offers some effortful singing and there’s an unwelcome beat in her voice under stress, but she sings the role with her customary pathos and intelligence, and with spectacular fiorature (and some difficult embellishments to the vocal line), and frankly, few sopranos ever could sound as sad as Sills. Her voice is a bit small for the part, but compared to some of the hideous European sopranos singing the role today, she’s Callas, Caballé, and herself rolled into one. The other plus is that DG has remastered the recording, and while it’s still loud, it doesn’t offend. Levine remains wrong-headed (also weirdly slow at times) and the women’s voices still don’t mingle well. But Sills fans should pay attention. For the real ticket, it’s Callas, 1955 on Opera d’Oro.
