Early (pre-Macbeth) Verdi is often greatly entertaining - and this performance delivers: high energy and excellent singing from the men and wild, approximate, vocal fireworks from Tatum. Odabella is a role that fit Cristina Deutekum like a glove. Tatum isn't in her league, but she sure is effective. Hines brings a Woton / Grand Inquisitor gravitas that may not be quite right for Attila, but it sure falls gratefully on the ear. Carlo Cossutta sings well as Foresto and would go on to be a very good Otello. Peter Glossop has always seemed a not-quite-Verdi baritone (but distinctly more at home in that repertoire than Fischer-Dieskau). His larger-than-life presence here, however, is a most welcome one. The orchestra plays well and the chorus is enthusiastic. The broadcast sound is generally, good. The voices come across clearly, the orchestra is often recessed and there is occasionally some sonic overload, but this is a no-holds-barred performance I am happy to have. Would that all early Verdi performances were this exciting!

John Pritchard stirs up a rip-roaring performance of Verdi's early, compact melodrama. All of the singers have voluminous, juicy voices and employ them to maximum effect. Nancy Tatum's Odabella hasn't quite the filigree for her first-act aria but there's power aplenty for the rest. With his towering stature, Jerome Hines must have been a sight as the barbarian title character. His singing here has little of the tonal stiffness that sometimes afflicted in the mid-Sixties after an ill-advised venture into Wotan. Peter Glossop and Carlo Cossutta are perfect -- the latter would be the premier Italianate tenor if he could take a time machine into the present day. The only serious defect is the lightweight Leone, a brief role that demands true vocal presence. The sound is excellent broadcast stereo, with the voices well forward, albeit at the price of some tape hiss. Verdians won't mind, given the riches in store.

Great singers in all roles. Tatum and Hines were very interesting, because I heard them for the the first time. Hines is very noble with beautiful, "rounded" voice. Tatum is appropriately hysterical as Odabella, indeed. Cossuta is elegant and enough powerful Foresto. Even Glossop sings with ease and beautiful voice. Audience is estatic (no wonder why). Pritchard, orchestra and chorus are on the same high level as the singers.