L'Elisir d'Amore (complete opera recorded live in 1949)

"This Met Opera broadcast from Christmas Eve 1949 captures a golden age performance such as we no longer can hope to hear at the Metropolitan Opera. Star power abounds. Brazilian soprano Bidu Sayao is a chipper, saucy Adina, with a nightingale vibrato, radiating personality. Her peasant admirer Nemorino is 36-year-old Italian Ferruccio Tagliavini, one of the definitive tenor voices of the last century. His soaring "Una furtiva lagrima" is enough to make one shed tears and send one's Pavarotti recordings to the nearest Goodwill. Buffo bass Salvatore Baccaloni steals the show as the quack Dulcamara. At 49, Baccaloni was the undisputed master of funny fatso roles. He leads the conductor a merry dance as he interacts with his colleagues, singing and pattering with hurricane force-so different from the blurry rambling we often hear today. Giuseppe Valdengo was the sturdy soldier Belcore. With singing actors of this calibre, one experiences the work's tragedy as well as comedy. The mikes are rightly focused on the voices, so the chorus is blurred and the orchestra is mere wallpaper. Audience noise and prompting are audible but minimal."

- La Scena Musicale (Philip Anson)

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'This set will be of interest to fans of the lovely Bidu Sayao, always enchanting and youthful, coloring her words with glee, making us understand precisely why Nemorino is willing to go to such ends to get her to marry him. And Tagliavini fans will be glad to hear the tenor live and in such good voice-he sings with grace and charm, and gives strong emphasis when needed. His 'Una furtiva lagrima' is as show-stopping as it should be.'

- ClassicsToday.com (Robert Levine) April 12, 2001