VERDI: “IL TROVATORE.” Leontyne Price, Fiorenza Cossotto,...

VERDI: “IL TROVATORE.” Leontyne Price, Fiorenza Cossotto, Placido Domingo, Bonaldo Giaiotti; Ambrosian Opera Chorus; New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta. RCA Red Seal 6194-2-RC (two compact discs). Recorded in 1969, this digitally remastered set has almost acquired a golden-age patina in the interim. Price may not have exhibited the pristine freedom she wielded in her RCA set of a decade earlier--she negotiates the fourth-act cabaletta too cautiously--yet the opulence and authority of her soprano was an international landmark in this repertory. Cossotto conveys Azucena’s crazed anguish in a plush, idiomatic mezzo. In one of his first complete recorded operas, Domingo’s coppery tenor combined youthful ardor, taste and ringing top notes, while Milnes’ luxuriant baritone brought a bit of compassion to Luna. Mehta presides over this vocal feast with a canny feeling for the tensions and atmospherics of one of Verdi’s more abused scores.