Sills at her best! A must!

This performance is as exciting as Andy and David M. have described it. Whether it is the opening night or the next performance i cannot tell as both casts were identical. Sills was reportedly quite ill at the premiere (she had 103 fever), but if this is the opening night you'd never know she was indisposed because she sings like a goddess. Even if we can't see her, Sills practically pops out of the disc so complete is her characterization. Every utterance illuminates Lucia as few have done in the past or since then.The other singers are all first-rate NYCO people. Molese sings with fine, burnished tone and is very passionate. Cossa and Hale refuse to take a back seat to Sills and contribute performances that are equally vivid. Because most of the cuts (all?) are opened here, the opera becomes about much more than Lucia herself. Hale adds some exciting ornaments to his cabaletta as does Molese just before he "dies" at the end. The sound is from a very good in-house source i.e. there is the occasional loud cough. The audience response is incredible.Very worthwhile acquisition, especially if you're a Sills fan!

The premiere of the Tito Capobianco production was on October 9, 1969. The next performance was October 12. Both performances are said to be extant so I don't know which one this set represents. Both casts were identical. Lucia - Beverly SillsEdgardo - Michael MoleseEnrico - Dominic CossaRaimondo - Robert HaleArturo - David ClementsNormanno - Joaquin RomaguerraAlisa - Beverly EvansNYCO Chorus and OrchestraCharles WilsonOctober 1969

This is Lucia with a chip on her shoulder -- a good thing for opera often relegated to the tender mercies of routine. Conductor Charles Wendelkon-Wilson sets a firm pace from the outset and doesn't weaken. Niggling cuts are opened by the dozen and there are a couple of major restorations, including the Wolf's Crag Scene. You could roll together all the coloraturas (other than Joan Sutherland) performing Lucia across the plaza at the Metropolitan Opera and not come up with Beverly Sills. Not only does she infuse even the most passing utterance with relevant meaning, her high notes galvanize the ear and her runs sound every note cleanly. (Every principal has their own style of ornamentation.) Michele Molese has one of the beefiest tenor voices Sills faced and his Edgardo seems as deranged as Lucia. Dominic Cossa is a bit light but fleet and has brilliant high notes, while Robert Hale's fluent Raymond is the most aggressive employer of appoggiature. The in-house recording has plausible balances and the animalistic roars provoked by Sills' are a sound to behold.