ONE OF THE BEST LIVE PERFORMANCE OF VERDI'S MASTERPIECE...

I am very happy in having that beautiful recording of Montserrat Caballé in Desdemona with Mac Cracken and Glossop !!!! Version so full of emotion.... thank you Giuseppe Verdi, thank you to the great casting.

This performance has already been highly praised by other reviewers here. I second their thoughts and have only a few of my own to add.McCracken's voice and, more specifically, his Otello are always going to be controversial. He handles the vocal demands in his own way, sounding like he's pushing his pressurized tenor to the limit. Yet he makes it through and sang for years after this. I find much of his portrayal over the top. He gets hysterical too quickly. But it works: McCracken is terrifying. Caballe sings like an angel, but an angel with gumption. Her exquisite "Ave Maria" is spoiled by her admirers in the audience who erupt in cheers the moment she releases the A-flat. She sounds appropriately terrified in the murder scene and dies with grace.Glossop was more subtle for Karajan a few years later, but he's more exciting here, singing the many trills in the part as well as letting out some impressive high As in the brindisi.Enid Hartle actually makes something of Emilia. She is unusually assertive in the last act and is clearly thinking about what she is singing. The other cast members are good, if not extraordinary. Anton Guadagno (not listed for some reason) leads a fleet performance. The sound is good, but be aware that a little music is missing (the tops of the first two acts and the end of "Era la notte"). No matter: all fans of these singers or this opera should have this in their collections.

It was every man for himself and devil take the hindmost this night at the Gran Teatro del Liceo. I've never heard Otello portrayed as psychotically as by James McCracken, an explosive Moor whose upper register can take the punishment and keep on going. "Dio, mi potevi" is a pitchless rant and the overall interpretation is so reckless that you're going to accept it or reject it outright. Perhaps influenced by McCracken's extroversion, Peter Glossop is an Iago red of tooth and claw, much less smoothly insinuating than in his performances with Karajan. Amidst all this machismo, Montserrat Caballé sings -- what else would you expect? -- exquisitely and delivers a moving characterization, with lots of "face," not always something you could take for granted from the lady. Enid Hartle's outstanding Emilia aside, the supporting cast is but adequate and conductor Anton Guadagno keeps everything more or less together without having any particular statement to make. Deplorably, he countenances traditional cuts in the Act II and III concertati, a practice that should have been on the way out in 1969.

I liked singing of Caballe, it is beautiful, lovely, with great pianissimi. I enjoyed also Glossop, however I prefer him in studio recording with Karajan. I was never an admirer of McCracken, but it is (for me at least) better here, than in his studio recording with Barbirolli. His voice doesn't crack here. I must admit, that McCracken is dramatically very convincing in this Otello from Barcelona and enjoyable. Orchestra is nice, very fierly and energetically conducted by Guadagno. His tempi are quite fast, so you could go home in two hours and 3 minutes. There are some moments where the brass is a bit too loud.

Point of information: Andy doesn't seem to have specified the conductor, who was ANTON GUADAGNO. I saw McCracken's Otello (with Gobbi) at Covent Garden as a young teenager in the mid-'60s...and was blown away!

Outstanding performance.

Superbly sung performance. Caballe, McCracken and Glossop all in peak form, giving deeply felt and dramatically committed performances.

I have always thought that McCracken is the very best of our “modern” Otellos.Even his recording on EMI with Gweneth Jones and Dietrich Fischer Dieskau is Fantastic. No one else has his fire and the deep emotion in the role. It would destroy any other tenor to sing it as intensely.

MY NEW FAVORITE! WOW! Just about the most perfectly cast recording I have heard in quit a while. Caballe is Wonderfual as Desdemona. She has everything the role needs. She is girlish and Strong and won’t be walked on by Her Otello. Peter Glossop is an EXCELLENT Iago. He sends shivers up you spine.As for McCracken, what can I say. He IS Otello! So strong ye so fragile in his jeluosey. He is Still in my opinion unsurpast in this role. I don’t think it CAN be sung better. What an opera. What a performance. HIGHLY RECCOMENDED!