Varady's ability to sing all kinds of music written for a lirico spinto soprano allowed her to tackle certain Verdi and Puccini roles in addition to her more usual fare in Mozart and Strauss. She is a lovely Leonora, spinning out the Verdi line with ease and treating us to some fine pianissimo singing as well. She had an extended top that took her to E-flat when she sang Violetta; here she interpolates a healthy high D-flat at the end of Act I. She enunciates the text with clarity here, not indulging in her habit of abandoning the consonants altogether when they got in the way of the vowels. Ilosfalvy sings heartily as Manrico if without a lot of subtlety. His timbre is a little leathery by this point and not as steady as it had been, but he gets the job done. His two high Bs in "Di quella pira" are exciting notes. Murray's Di Luna is very credible, sung with a strong, masculine baritone (incidentally, he is the father of Met tenor John Horton Murray). Baldani was an underrated mezzo who sings a powerful Azucena. She'd be better known were she singing today. Auer gets the opera off to a good start with his excellent Ferrando, sung with the trills often left out by other singers. Klobucar leads a satisfying performance. The sound is very good with the voices heard clearly over the orchestra. The last 10-15 seconds of the opera are missing (maybe the tape ran out?); at least Azucena and Di Luna get to finish their final lines.