I have liked this version with an incendiary spintotenor - Cecchele- very good with ardent phrase and with 2 primadonas Arroyo and Bumbry with large grave registers and many armonics. I think Schipers modulates inspirately the intense tension of the plot. Thanks a lot Opera depot!

Martina Arroyo used to tell a funny story about a taxi strike in Rome occurring during this series of performances of Don Carlo. She and Bumbry had to dash to the theater on foot, leaving them both almost breathless as the opera began.Neither of them sound breathless here. Quite the opposite: they both sound marvelous. Bumbry's Eboli was never the most penetrating of characterizations, but she sings the blazes out of the music and garners loud and long ovations for her two arias. "O don fatale" is particularly thrilling. Arroyo has all the regality required of Elisabetta and she manages Verdi's eloquent melodies with beauty and style. Her last aria is definitely worth the wait as is her final top B.The men are all first-rate. Cecchele makes something specific out of Carlo and sings most convincingly. Romero, an underrated baritone who specialized in the bel canto repertoire, sings Rodrigo with burnished, attractive tone and Siepi remains the King of King Filippos. Cava and Pugliese are excellent in their important secondary roles too. The Tebaldo, Mariana Niculescu, became well-known several years later. Schippers conducts well and as Andy says above not too fast. He includes an abridged version of the first act; Act Four, scene two ends with Rodrigo's death.This was taken from a house tape and though slightly recessed the voices are clearly heard. As Antonio says below there is some annoying "ghosting" during a few quiet moments, but it doesn't last long.

Excellent interpretation on the whole, excellent Siepi; times given by Schippers are sometimes a little slow. Very bad recording, strong background noise; at certain points there are voices in the background like a badly deleted tape.