This is a treasure. Yes, it's late Tebaldi, but her legato is firm and expressive. And, her exploitation of lower register communicates the great regret her character is later burdened with. Domingo is at his height and Sordello steals vocal honors with his richly colored voice. The sound is good.

Tebaldi and company are in excellent shape for what was probably a one-off performance in Philadelphia. The soprano is in excellent late middle career voice, her tone lovely, her portrayal passionate. She gets the top Cs by the skin of her teeth, but she gets them. I love her shriek of joy at the end of the third act when Des Grieux is going to be allowed to go with Manon to America. Her death scene is also very moving.Domingo is in good shape too though he doesn't linger over high notes either. He is very believable as the lovelorn sap and he sings his two arias in the first act with insouciant ease. Sordello sings Lescaut with wit and style while Densen is a suitably obnoxious Geronte. The young Gwynn Cornell sings the madrigal soloist with full, lovely tone. Mariano Caruso portrays two characters with expert diction. Guadagno knows the score and his singers very well and leads a quick, passionate performance.The voices are slightly recessed, but audible. The tapist is a chatty fellow who hurls out "Brava, Tebaldi!" at the end of "In quella trine morbide". Some listeners won't like that, yet I think it captures the feel of the performance more than sterile silence.A Manon Lescaut for the fans then. I'm very grateful it was preserved for posterity!

GREAT FOR BOTH SINGERS !!! TEBALDI DREAM EVEN IN 1968.