“Salce! Salce! Salce!”
I’m listening right now, for the first time, to Barbirolli’s recording of Otello. I am struck by how many huge edits there are. Nevertheless, Gwyneth Jones is a really sad and lovely Desdemona, her Ave Maria exquisite; James McCracken was a better Otello than people give him credit for; and, though Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is clearly odd in Italian repertoire, especially Verdi, his characterization of Iago is thoughtful. Plus, he avoids the cackling at the end of the Credo, which I appreciate. This is out of print, of course, and I forgot I even had it. Wow, Jones is good.
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