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Title: De los Angeles is lovable, but the rest . . . uh oh
Review: This 1960 EMI recording finds the wonderful de los Angeles as appealing as ever, but she didn't have the colorature for Violetta, only the pathos and vulnerability. Serafin was old and tired by this time, and his conducting is lackluster and often slack. The thankfully forgotten tenor, Carlo del Monte, blares away in mindless fashion half the time, and the elder Germont, Mario Sereni, is as faceless and dull as he was in Callas's legendary Lisbon Traviata.I'm giving it straight not to criticize those reviewers who clearly love this set and ignore its flaws, but to let newcomers know what they have in store. I love de los Angeles as much as anyone, but a diamond can fall in the mud.
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