Great singers but poor technical quality

This was obviously recorded by someone out in the house and as such suffers from some of the casualties of that arrangement: recessed voices, overpowering orchestra, missing bars of music here and there, etc. Yet I'm glad Opera Depot made this available as it captures Bonisolli's first Otello. The correct date, by the way, is May 4, 1976. His interpretation would become a little more refined over time (refinement was never a quality Bonisolli bothered too much about), but his hairy-chested passion and innate feeling for the Verdian line count for a lot, not too mention his thrilling high notes. He not only gets, but sustains the top C on "cortigiana" in Act Three to exciting effect. Similarly, his top B-flat on "O gioia!" a little later in the act is one for the record books.Taddei is a wonderful, detailed Iago and the relatively unknown soprano Anna Alexieva offers a really lovely Desdemona in great contrast to Bonisolli's more histrionic performance (she sang Fyodor in Boris Christoff's second studio recording of Boris Godunov). An additional treat is Adolf Dallapozza's handsomely sung Cassio. Dallapozza was a big favorite in Vienna for years. The Emilia is also very good; too bad we're not told who she is. Wallberg was an excellent conductor and he does a fine job here (though he makes several cuts in the choral music).The voices are not that recessed and once the ear adjusts to the sound, the entire performance is very listenable.

Almost imposible to hear.