COMPOSERS: Verdi
LABELS: Sony
WORKS: Un ballo in maschera
PERFORMER: Leontyne Price, Carlo Bergonzi, Shirley Verrett; RCA Italiana Opera Chorus & RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra/Erich Leinsdorf
CATALOGUE NO: 88697581322
Surprise hero of this batch is conductor Erich Leinsdorf, whom I’d had down as a bit of an also-ran. His sense of pace in both the Così and this Un ballo in maschera is impeccable even if Leontyne Price, swapping Fiordiligi for Amelia, rather externalises Italianate emotion rather than projecting it from within. Carlo Bergonzi captures the light opéra comique side of the piece well, too, though Pavarotti (Decca) will always own the part. David Nice