This is a perfectly terrible CD of highlights from a performance taped live in New Orleans in April, 1950. About 50 minutes of Ballo is presented here, 42 of which feature Bjoerling. He never recorded the role of Riccardo commercially (although a Met broadcast from 1940 exists), so this ought to be valuable. For the record, he omits his third-act aria and interpolates a blazing high-C to the interjection before the transition to the Masked Ball, and the remainder of his performance is handsomely sung, even if he fails to capture any of the joy of the character. The rest of the cast is awful, with Suzy Morris’ barely matronly Amelia, Marko Rothmuller’s dreadful Renato, and Audrey Schuh an Oscar to forget. The ensemble work is vile and the orchestra sounds like a high school band. The sonics are unacceptable. Not recommended, except for Bjoerling completists. At least it’s only one CD.
