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Title: Promising but disappointing !
Review: Well, I hate to be a party booper but I didn't like this Traviata. First and foremost, the sound is awful for a 1956 studio recording. The only word that comes to mind to describe this recording is laboured: the sound, the conducting, the singing, everything sound laboured and lifeless. Pierre Monteux is not in his element here, there is no flow to his conducting, and neither is Leonard Warren as Germont, the role just doesn't suit him very well. Rosanna Carteri was an admired Violetta in the 1950s but here she was either caught on a bad day or very poorly recorded, for the most part she sounds hard-toned, charmless and effortful. Cesare Valletti (Alfredo) is the most successful of the soloist though he is mostly done for by his environment. In sum, much talent assembled here but none seen to great advantage. The later RCA set from 1960 with Anna Moffo, Richard Tucker and Robert Merrill under Previtali is superior in every way.
