This Andrea Chenier captures the high and lows of the “live.” Corelli, exciting and visceral as always has a mishap in Un Bel Di but recovers while Caballé steals the show as a Maddalena for the ages, sweet, noble and passionate and totally beievable. She adds an “acuto" in La Mamma Morta but who cares. The baritone is fine if not memorable. Naturally the sound isn’t great but for fans of the two leads it is a treat.

This is a rather rough, provincial performance with an imperturbable diva at the center. Caballe obviously surprised Corelli with her complete vocal mastery and huge audience appeal. He responds competitively, over-singing in the trial scene and finding himself vocally tired and uncharacteristically struggling with intonation in "Come un bel di". He recovers for a successful finale. Caballe is resplendent, magisterial. Turning the performance into a fight, Corelli loses on points. The under-recorded Dino Dondi is a fine Gerard, without the benefit of much real "face". The sounds is adequate if a bit frustrating, a tape recorder on somebody's lap. Worth listening to, but probably not returning to very often. Of course, if you heard this performance in the theater today, you would rightly think you'd gone to heaven.

Great cast and great singing but it didn't erase Corelli/Tebaldi from my mind. Nevertheless, well worth a listen.

This performance of Andrea Chenier has circulated on other labels (GOP comes to mind), but hasn't been available for awhile. Opera Depot's copy is in better sound than the GOP and is pitched correctly. Corelli is in thrilling form and gives the Philadelphia audience its money's worth. There are no tenors like him today. I doubt there ever will be again; he was unique. I think this was Caballe's role debut as Maddalena. She is not only in beautiful voice, but can be heard actually thinking about what she is singing and what it means. She floats some of her famous pianissimi and is very involved in the drama. Her "La mamma morta" is a highlight of the performance. I think she and Corelli transpose the final duet down a half-step - no matter; they end the opera with the flair it must have in order to succeed.Dino Dondi was considered a second stringer in 1966, but he would probably be a star today. He has that strong Italian baritone sound that was so common back then. More importantly, he knows how the role is supposed to go and delivers a stirring, vociferously applauded "Nemico della patria". The rest of the cast is also very good with Herbert Krauss as a strong L'incredibile and Eugene Green a memorable Mathieu. Guadagno leads a rousing performance that holds together well.The voices are slightly recessed, but audible. Thank goodness someone had the foresight to record this performance!