Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor
This comes from a radio broadcast from RAI in Turin in 1967, when both soprano and tenor were at their freshest. Despite some luscious, ardent, full-throated singing, particularly in the second-act wedding scene, Pavarotti sounds somewhat uncertain. He misses an entrance or two, for instance. Renata Scotto, even at this stage, sounds as if her very highest notes are borrowed and might have to be returned at any moment, but she's otherwise ideally intense--it's a very valuable performance. Piero Cappuccilli gives a mustache-twirling reading to Enrico's music. Francesco Molinari-Pradelli's conducting is lackluster. Despite the set's shortcomings, there's plenty here to admire.--Robert Levine