These two sets were recorded as the soundtracks for films by Franco Zeffirelli, which, if I recall, were opulent in the way only Zeffirelli can be. Even watching them at the time (the mid-1980s) it was clear that the singing was pretty mediocre, the orchestral playing was not on a very high level, and Georges Prêtre had little sense of either opera’s dramatic arc–and the constraints of having to pause, even momentarily, ruined the overall effect.
Without the films these performances are even worse. Domingo sounds in bad vocal shape–at the time, it was feared that he was starting to wear out his voice, which turned out not to be so–with raspy, throaty delivery and effortful singing anywhere near and above the top of the staff. Elena Obraztsova’s Santuzza is so bullying that it’s amazing she’s not thrown out of town just for singing with such indelicacy on Easter morning; but you can’t deny that she’s dramatically involved. Renato Bruson’s Alfio is good, if a little soft-grained for this teamster, and Fedora Barbieri’s Mama Lucia is a nice souvenir.
In the Pagliacci, Domingo isn’t quite as bad, but he’s still nowhere close to the top of his game. Teresa Stratas, brilliant on stage, is obviously near the end of her vocal tether, and Juan Pons is a woolly, non-menacing Tonio. Lots of stage noises intrude in both productions, by the way. Skip these.
