This exciting performance was taken from an extended series of excerpts from Verdi's opera. No chorus was available and only a handful of soloists other than the three main singers. It was not abridged from a complete performance of the opera. We get all the solo scenes plus the scenes that focus on the central couple. There is a Cassio (Leo Goeke) and an unidentified Emilia and Lodovico.King wasn't generally associated with the Italian repertoire in this country, singing mostly Strauss and Wagner roles (he sang Cavaradossi, Calaf, Don Jose, and Captain Vere at the Met and Canio in San Francisco). He certainly has the voice for Verdi's hero with his ringing high notes and generous phrasing. He hadn't quite figured out the pacing of the character yet and gets hysterical too soon. All the same, I wish he had been hired to sing the role more often (Opera Depot also has a performance from Vienna with Teresa Zylis-Gara in its catalogue, #11158).This may have been Scotto's first performance of Desdemona. She is in excellent voice and already colors her phrases memorably. She is granted all of her part in Act 4. I only wish Lombard had given us the entire prelude rather than just the last few bars before Desdemona begins singing. Colzani was an old hand at Iago and provides a stirring Credo in Act 2. Lombard paces the evening well. I wish he had included Otello's opening "Esultate!", but perhaps that was too difficult to excerpt.The voices are slightly recessed, but the ear quickly adjusts. If you love these three singers, you'll enjoy this, abridged edition and all.