A great disappointment. I'd been hoping for a version of this magnificently sung performance that would be in better sound than the one I already have. Alas, the person who originally taped this had their machine running much too fast for the first two acts. Even such a normally unmistakabe artist as Gobbi is barely recognisable. Things improve in the last two acts, but good, correctly pitched sound remains an unfulfilled wish. Didn't Cov. Gdn make an in-house recording, I wonder.

Mozart est décidément le compositeur d'opéra que Solti aura le mieux servi . Vraie folle journée ici, menée à un train d'enfer ! Freni est simplement miraculeuse, une des 4 plus parfaites de la discographie . Berganza a été pendant 15 ans Chérubin même . Gobbi toujours très subtil, ancien régime comme il faut et il s'amuse lui aussi (ses misères ne peuvent entamer sa dignité), bref l'opposé de DFD . Je suis toujours sensible au charme de Ligabue . Evans perd un peu sans l'image (il était formidable en scène, voir vidéo Salzburg 63) et est juste un très bon Figaro .

Solti's tempos verge on the fast side in this performance and one could accuse him of running over the more lyrical moments (he would improve this in later performances). However, he keeps things moving and contributes to an exciting performance of this most perfect of operas.We get three native Italian singers in this recording and it's all to the better. Freni was in her youthful prime and sings like a dream. When she shares the stage with Ligabue and Gobbi their first-hand knowledge of the language pays immense dividends. I don't know why I was sceptical about Gobbi as the Count, but I needn't have been. He sings very well and if his voice isn't as beautiful as say Thomas Allen's or Thomas Hampson's he still provides lessons in recitative and how to characterize through the music. He also nails the difficult triplets in his aria - at Solti's quick tempo that's saying something! Heard for once in a role other than Alice Ford, Ligabue is a warm, seductive Countess though there are others who have sung the role more memorably. The young Teresa Berganza is an enchanting Cherubino. Geraint Evans is a perfect Figaro; I have no complaints about him. The supporting cast is drawn from Covent Garden's top-of-the-line house singers, all of whom make something of their roles.The sound is from a very good broadcast source. The very tops of Acts Three and Four are missing, but that's not a big deal. If you love Figaro, you should have this.

bellissima edizione.

Enjoyable and a very "live" performance with vivid characterisations.

I have spent many years looking for a recording with a baritone who does an adequate job of singing the role of Count Almaviva. It's so hard to play this role convincingly--you have to be aloof, but also passionately angry; nasty and manipulative, but also sympathetic during the aria at the beginning of Act 3. Tito Gobbi is the first I have heard who meets all these requirements. After listening to his masterful performance as Don Giovanni under Furtwangler (1950), I had high expectations, and he does not disappoint. He has the snarling vocal muscle and also the precision and virtuosity necessary for the part, as well as the acting ability.The other members of the cast are very good as well, particularly Sir Geraint Evans as Figaro, and Mirella Freni as Susanna. Solti sometimes goes a bit too fast during the ensembles for my taste, but for the most part he does a good job.This is one of the two recordings of FIGARO which I consider essential; the other is the live recording from Aix-en-Provence (1956), conducted by Hans Rosbaud, with Teresa Stich-Randall as the Countess, Rita Streich as Susanna, and the great Rolando Panerai as Figaro.