Over the years, people have often asked me how I judge whether a recording is worth adding to the catalogue when weighing flaws in the sound quality against the strengths of the performance. The answer is ultimately a personal one: whether I am able to enjoy the performance in spite of those flaws. I mention this because I found this Tosca challenging to enjoy at times, given the distant miking and the generally tinny character of the sound. Yet the cast is undeniably legendary, and the musical direction of Herbert von Karajan elevates an already formidable ensemble.

Karajan commanded sufficient authority to impose a unified musical philosophy on a work in which such cohesion can be difficult to achieve, particularly when dealing with singers who arrive feeling that they have already mastered their parts and require little additional coaching. One hears the results, for example, in the delicacy with which Giuseppe Taddei caresses the lines at the beginning of Scarpia's Act I duet with Tosca. Moments such as this elucidate the score in remarkable ways, making so familiar a work feel surprisingly new.

Leontyne Price is at her absolute best, shining from her entrance through the final moments of the opera. One curious aspect of the recording is that the top of her voice can sometimes seem to disappear rather than bloom, though this may well be a consequence of the miking rather than the singing itself.

Flaviano Labò steps into the role of Cavaradossi. I say “steps in” because this performance was clearly a dry-run for the Decca recording with the same principal cast, but with Giuseppe Di Stefano as Cavaradossi. If Labò felt somewhat slighted at being denied the opportunity to record the role with them, he would have had reason: he gives a performance of exceptional sweetness and virility that, in my opinion, surpasses Di Stefano's.