This is an excellent Tosca, surprising because I’d always thought Pobbe was mediocre. Her voice takes a while to warm up, but she manages the top C’s well enough and always conveys what she is supposed to be singing about. The murder of Scarpia is done with great gusto and her discovery of Mario’s death is electrifying. Raimondi sings very well (he really was taken for granted) and MacNeil is a malevolent Scarpia. This performance catches him before the wobble that afflicted him in later years took over. The sound is excellent. The sidebreak is poor; it should have taken place between the first and second acts, not in the middle of the Tosca/Scarpia interrogation scene. Oh well…