Bellini: I Puritani, Muti/Philharmonia (3-CD)

“[Muti] has a fine ear for orchestral sonorities and it is a pleasure to listen to the overture here with its brassy sounds loosened up with airy flutes . . . [His] care over detail throughout makes the music come to life.” — MusicWeb International

Bellini’s final opera, one of the peaks of the bel canto repertoire, is handled by Riccardo Muti with characteristic sensitivity and integrity. His concern for dramatic truth and fidelity to the score is shared by the cast, led by Montserrat Caballe as Elvira, the emotionally fragile heroine, and Alfredo Kraus as her love Arturo. Fulfilling the music’s virtuosic demands with beauty and elegance, the singers offer interpretations of extraordinary sympathy and insight.

Bellini I Puritani (The Puritans)
Alfredo Kraus Lord Arturo Talbo
Montserrat Caballe Elvira
Matteo Manuguerra Sir Riccardo Forth
Agostino Ferrin Sir Giorgio Valton
Stefan Elenkov Lord Gualtiero Valton
Dennis O’Neill Sir Bruno Robertson
Julia Hamari Enrichetta di Francia
Philharmonia Orchestra
Ambrosian Opera Chorus
July 1979, Kingsway Hall, London

Discs: 3
Record Label: Warner
Release Date: May 20, 2016