Most of the sets from which these substantial extracts are taken were made in the early 1970s, that is to say at the start of Domingo's career. It is remarkable that he has managed to sustain to this day nearly all the ease of tone and production displayed here. I suppose the sound of his Don Carlos, Des Grieux and the Boito Faust was marginally more lyrical than today, but otherwise I think the innocent ear would be hard put to say when precisely over a period of 15 years the performances were taped. What has changed is the characterization. Beautiful as some of these early readings may be, they do not all evince the sense of commitment to be heard in the 1981 Cavaradossi, and since he performed Radames, Riccardo Des Grieux and Don Carlos for HMV, he has interpreted these parts for other companies with a greater sense of involvement.
Still, these two records exhibit a mighty effort of tenor singing and an amazing consistency of achievement. There is some fine singing also from Caballe, Scotto and Freni among others, the duet from Act 3 of Aida (with the first-named) possibly being the high point of the album, though—with Muti again as exciting conductor—the Ballo love duet with Arroyo (possibly underrated by me ten years ago) stands up well to the test of time. The EMI sound shows a consistency to match the tenor's. Unfortunately, the pressings are far less reliable, being afflicted by clicks.'