Reissues Reviewed

Donizetti L’elisir d’amore

Warner 9029573590 (1958) 111:05 mins (2 discs) A handsome cast from the early stereo days with Luigi Alva’s Nemorino close to perfection. Rosanna Carteri is a winsome Adina and Rolando Panerai’s Belcore is full of musical swagger. Alas, Tullio Serafin makes the traditional cuts. ★★★★

Rimsky-korsakov The Snow Maiden

Eloquence 482 6913 (1955) 204:39 mins

In this re-mastered stereo recording, Rimsky’s springtime tale is handsomely performed by the Belgrade Opera Company, a proper ensemble rather than a roster of stars ★★★

Tchaikovsky The Queen of Spades

Eloquence 482 6903 (1955) 168:50 mins More than the sum of its parts. You forgive a noisy conductor and faltering top notes from Valerija Heybal’s Lisa. Belgrade Opera field a properly obsessive Hermann and a superb countess in Melanija Burgarinovic. ★★★

Wolf-ferrari Il Segreto di Susanna

Naxos 8.660385 (2006) 66:29 mins

Judith Howarth cannot suit every taste as the cigarette mad Susanna, while Àngel Òdena is scarcely the blindly jealous husband. But Friedrich Haider knows what a miniature gem he’s conducting. ★★