Title: Best of both Macbeths
Product review: As you know Verdi had two Macbeths, and this recording takes the ending of the 1847 score and combines it with an edited version of the more popular 1865 revision. The result is one of the best "live" recordings of this opera. Some of the witches' choruses have been simplified, but this moves the drama along at a faster pace. Milnes is in top form and his "Pieta, respetto, amore" aria is without equal. Milnes also excels in the very last aria (from the 1847 version) and it replaces the usual ending (no final chorus). In my opinion, adding the death aria is an improvement and brings the story to a more dramatic ending. Christa Ludwig is an exciting Lady Macbeth and adds to the evil feeling of this recording, although she sometimes doesn't bother to pronounce her words. The rest of the cast is good with "no bad apples". Karl Bohn's conducting makes this a Macbeth that you can listen to again and again.
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