Paskalis uses his voice to fully cover the nuances of his role. Barstow's timbre is dark and ominous when needed and brilliantly colored and appropriately steely when needed. This is an exciting performance. The sound profile is crackling and alive like a great European theater, or like that of the great Philadelphia Academy of Music in Pennsylvania. Again, it is a very fine performance.

A very good one. Barstow and Paskalis are very impressive

Barstow is incredible - second only to Callas.

There is also a commercially-available DVD of this production (the CDs may be the “soundtrack”) which is absolutely excellent, even though Barstow comes over as too “big” dramatically – I saw her many times with English national Opera, and she was still a little raw and not yet the very great singing-actress she was to become in the mid-’70s. Paskalis is the revelation – I saw him at Gly. in 1966 in this role; later at Cov. Gdn as iago (1972)…what a great performer! he just picks you up by the scruff of the neck and shakes you until you cry “Bravo!” Yes, James Morris sings very beautifully as Banqo, but let’s not forget Keith Erwin -another artiste I saw with ENO and WNO many times; a very expressive tenor. Sadly he died young in the late-70s.

I have almost 20 different recordings of Macbeth, and this CD is one of my favorites. The three main characters are Macbeth and Lady Macbeth (of course), plus the witches! Paskalis and Barstow are very good as Macbeth and his wife, but the witches chorus in this recording is the best on any that I know. Many times in other recordings, the witches mumble and often don’t sound menacing or evil. On this recording they sound scary without being excessively dramatic. I also like Morris in the brief role of Banquo. I highly recommend.

One of the first operas I ever saw live was Macbeth at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in the early 80s. Ms. Barstow was Lady Macbeth and she was riveting. Her sound was thrilling.