Inge Borkh virtually owned the role of Elektra before Birgit Nilsson came along. Although her voice may have lacked the steel of Nilsson's, that didn't stop her from tackling the demands head-on with remarkable success given how much voice she gave in the process. Not a great recipe for vocal longevity but exciting all the same. Martha Mödl could possibly be the poster-child for vocal recklessness. Her thrilling performances from the early 50s left her voice in a sorry state by the mid-sixties. However, Mödl was a creature of the theater and she wasn't going to let any vocal limitations keep her from giving a vivid and chilling performance. She even seems to use her vocal state to help convey Klytämnestra's decrepitude. As Aegisth, Mirto Picchi is surprisingly good given how far this role is from his normal repertoire. Antal Dorati delivers a broad but detailed performance.