José Carreras, Riccardo Muti - Verdi: Macbeth (1999)

There is a great deal to recommend this recording in spite of the minor cuts. First off Muti has a great Macbeth in Sherrill Milnes. His voice in 1976 when this set was made was in its most glorious prime. There are other very fine Macbeth's on record but Milnes has the youth, the virility and the craven edge to his vocal acting to make this an ideal performance on record. His voice is powerful and beautiful but is in no way over-topped by his wife, in the formidable form of Fiorenza Cossotto. The great mezzo-soprano had the power, the beauty and sensuality of tone plus the requisite ability in coloratura to pull this incredibly difficult role off with easeful aplomb. She is not the cold blooded hell hound like Birgit Nilsson is for Schippers (Decca) or the crazed harpy like Mara Zampieri for Sinopoli, my favorite of them all by the way but Cassotto's voice has that visceral quality of blood and guts that makes this role so wonderfully 3 dimensional in the right hands, or voice. Her sleep-walking scene is very effective and she has the high d-flat solidly in her voice. Hers is the only mezzo-soprano voice I've heard on record who is totally successful in this part, and is equal to the greatest Ladys I've heard.

The other two main characters are really secondary. Banco (Ruggero Raimondi) and Macduff (José Carreras) sing beautifully, especially Carreras in his two big-ish scenes, but this opera has two characters of note, the Macbeths.

In the 1970s EMI made a number of splendid recordings for Muti in the Kingsway Hall, with the New Philharmonia Orchestra and the splendid Ambrosian Opera Chorus, both featured in this set. The ladies of the chorus are outstanding witches! Second only to Leinsdorf's Metropolitan Opera coven who are classic New England monsters! The sound is full and exciting, but never shrill or boomy. Those EMI sets are some of the finest made by that company in the history of their existence. Whatever you may think of Muti or some of his singers in these operas they are all worth hearing. He does tend to race along too quickly from time to time. The first witches chorus is way too fast, scrambling hectically, losing all power in favor of a chattering hysteria.

My favorite remains Sinopoli's electrifying recording from Berlin with Renato Bruson and the GREAT Lady Macbeth of Mara Zampieri. I know people have registered their hatred of that soprano in that recording but frankly I can see nothing but their own blind prejudice lashing out at a greatly mis-used soprano. And Sinopoli's is complete, as is Abbado's recording on DG. This Muti set is about 7-8 minutes shorter in length. But nothing like the very attenuated Schippers set (Decca) which is a good 30 minutes shorter than either of these. But Schippers' set is very compelling and is also a necessary Macbeth for any home collection, ditto Leinsdorf's on RCA.

This Muti Macbeth is highly recommended. You can't have too many great recordings of Macbeth, and this is one of the best.

This rerelease contains a complete libretto in Italian and English, essays, synopsis and some microscopic photographs of singers and the recording session. Better than nothing, especially from EMI.