Andy nailed it in his precis above: this performance is indeed all about Montserrat Caballe. At 32, she is in her vocal prime and very generous with her singing in front of an audience that adored her. It's clear she is in her best voice from the beginning, spinning Verdi's melodies out with a seemingly endless supply of breath and clearly thinking about what she's singing. I was a little surprised she didn't interpolate a high D-flat at the end of Act One, but she includes a different high ending to "Di tale amor" in Act One and interpolates four long-held high Cs in Act Four as well as including one verse of the rarely heard (at that time) cabaletta "Tu vedrai". She's feisty, loving, defiant, and magnificent.The other singers are ho-hum, not terrible, but not distinguished either. Barbieri was only 46, but her top notes receded almost a decade earlier. She knows what she's about, but this was one Azucena too many for her. Borsó bellows and shouts his way through Manrico and Paskalis, normally a refined singer, gets competitive and starts to shout too. Guadagno knows who is running the show and follows Caballe well.Most of Act Three, scene one is missing as well as a few other short passages, none of them involving Caballé. This is from a broadcast so the voices are forward and easily heard, but the source tape sounds a little worn here and there and the transfer is at too high a level.This is for Caballe fans and they won't be disappointed.

One more of the fantastic interpretations of Montserrat Caballé in Il Trovatore !!!!! She is wonderful, so young with such a maturity, such an art of singing !!!!And a beautiful casting with her !!!Thank you so much.

Yes, it is Caballé's show, and as it progresses she is increasingly on fire, dramatic and fierce, occasionally at her own vocal expense; it's quite fabulous, including more high notes than usually heard in the role. I'm less forgiving of the sound than the reviewer above, it's pretty awful at times. But a wonderful document of Caballé throwing caution to the wind with plenty of vocal beauty to spare. I'm sorry that the splicing together of the performance is so clumsy and so much of the applause is omitted, it belongs with a performance like this.