This is a superb performance with every singer on wonderful form and Davis conducting the score like a thing possessed with real dramatic urgency. Sound very good too. Highly recommended as an antidote to bloodless period performances.

Colin Davis' first studio recording of Idomeneo (with George Shirley and Pauline Tinsley) came and went on CD very quickly and, for whatever reason, has never been reissued. His second studio set with Francisco Araiza and Roberta Alexander is a good one, but neither really matches the one here done for RAI in 1971. There are some cuts (Idomeneo is a very long opera), mainly Arbace's two arias and the ballet music, but much more is performed than was customary in those days or even now.Gedda sings the more florid version of "Fuor del mar" and handles it very well. He sings with regal grace and is genuinely moving in the third act. He also sports a good trill. Harper sings a lovely Illia, Woodland a solid Elettra although I prefer Tinsley's crackling, insane portrayal on the studio set. The 25 year old Jessye Norman makes a strong Idamante. I would've preferred to hear her as Elettra, but that never happened. The chorus and orchestra respond well to Davis' solid, well-paced direction. Though nearly three hours long I was never bored.The sound is excellent, a few one-second dropouts in Elettra's first aria notwithstanding. Myto had this out several decades ago, reportedly incurring the wrath of Norman who insisted it not be sold in the United States. Diehard opera lovers found copies of it anyway (it was also on the Opera D'oro label later on). Now Opera Depot has made it available again at a very reasonable price. Mozart lovers, snap this up while you can!

A deeply emotional performance that brings the opera to life.

A fine recording of Mozart’s first operatic masterpiece. Norman and Harper deliver breathtakingly beautiful singing throughout. Gedda’s coloratura is at times muddy (Fuor del Mar is a disappointment), but otherwise his sensitivity and elegance are all one expects; in the last act he is quite moving. Davis is attuned to the underlying turbulence and nuance of the score; this is far livelier than his dull 1968 studio recording on Philips. (I am unfamiliar with his second set from the 1990s.) The sound, though cramped and muddy at the beginning, opens up as the work proceeds.