Verdi: Macbeth, Muti/Philharmonia (2-CD)

“Muti leads like a house-on-fire, whipping the Witches into a frenzy and never allowing too much of the oom-pah side of the opera to sneak out.” — Classics Today

Macbeth, Verdi’s first Shakespearean opera, is thrillingly dark and imaginative — its score a bubbling cauldron of hubris, brutality, mystery, insanity, tragedy and compassion. Riccardo Muti is in his element, driving the drama and framing the grandly vivid interpretations of Sherrill Milnes and Fiorenza Cossotto as the Macbeths, the glowingly youthful Macduff of José Carreras and the dignified, but doomed Banquo of Ruggero Raimondi.

Verdi Macbeth
Sherrill Milnes Macbeth
Fiorenza Cossotto Lady Macbeth
Ruggero Raimondi Banco
José Carreras Macduff
Giuliano Bernardi Malcolm
Maria Borgato A Lady-in-waiting
Carlo Del Bosco A Doctor
Neilson Taylor A Herald
Christopher Keyte First Apparition
Sarah Grossman Second Apparition
Timothy Sprackling Third Apparition
New Philharmonia Orchestra
Ambrosian Opera Chorus
John McCarthy chorus director
1976, No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, London

Discs: 2
Record Label: Warner
Release Date: September 2, 2016