Title: ONE REASON, only
Review: for not giving the Horenstein performance the extra star (that it probably deserves, anyway). It's simply because of the continued availability of a performance from 73 years ago; the latter, with Toscanini, Jussi Bjorling, Kipnis and the forces of THEIR time. Richard Lewis is a FINE tenor, but Bjorling is unsurpassed, in SO many of his inimitable recordings. Ms. Stich-Randall and Norma Procter are probably equal to the earlier, female duo of Zinka Milanov and Bruna Castagna ... and Kim Borg can, possibly, even MATCH, in many ways, the legendary bass .... Alexander Kipnis. Horenstein's interpretation is both subtle and forceful, well-paced, and NEVER lags in inspiration. All-in-all, then, this performance probably deserves at-LEAST four-and-a-half stars; it's only the continued presence of four of the GREATest of earlier singers, with the dynamic Toscanini, that could PUSH this exceptional recording into "second" place, of all.
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