The rivalry between Muti and Abbado (DG), so close on LP, now transfers to CD. I suppose there has been a whole host of new buyers since I reviewed the Muti version almost 12 years ago—can it be so long?—so perhaps I should once again rehearse its virtues. Caballe gives what is generally considered her most successful Verdi performance on record, full of those vocal subtleties and beauties that inform her best singing, at its finest perhaps in the lovely floated passage at the close of 'O patria mia'', but no less effective when it comes to the power needed to fill Verdi's phrases generously. Moreover, the characterization, perhaps inspired by Muti, fulfils almost every aspect of the role's demands. In contrast to Caballe's delicacy and plangency, there is Cossotto's imperious, fiercely sung Amneris just as electrifying when she is at the end of her tether in Act 4 as when she is baiting Aida in Act 2. Domingo, though not so vital as for Abbado, sings an upright, musical Radames, Cappuccilli is a forthright, unsubtle Amonasro, Ghiaurov a properly merciless Ramphis. Interesting to note Martinucci, now a Radames himself, in the tiny role of the Messenger.
Muti gives an impassioned, subjective account of the score which CD timing reveals to be, in many cases, slower than Abbado's, but his pace in the final duet still strikes me as on the quick side and, in contrast to his Italian colleague, he does sometimes indulge in sudden accelerandos and crescendos that are unwarranted by the score.
The balance between the sets is still a fine one. Ricciarelli, though not vocally anywhere near so reliable as Caballe, is still an Aida to be reckoned with because she understands the emotions of the part so well. Abbado's great weakness is his insensitive Amneris: Obraztsova's raw, poorly articulated performance is no match for Cossotto's. Nucci, though well enough in the picture, is not so imposing as Cappuccilli. Ghiaurov is a little rusty as compared with his younger self. But Domingo here offers the most heroic Radames on any available set, and one fashioned in long breaths and refined phrasing. Abbado himself is inclined to take a more measured view of the score than Muti; as I wrote in 1983, his tempos seem ''correctly regulated one with the other'', and he is just as able as Muti to create the right atmosphere for a scene by his attention to Verdi's illustrative detail.
Now on CD, with Muti digitally remastered, the differences in recorded quality are even more marked. The HMV sound is bigger in scale, more reverberant and spacious, but in the indoor scenes, as it were, the Abbado often seems the more natural. Both choruses and orchestras are well caught, and distinguish themselves with splendidly vital contributions. I think by a hairs-breadth I still prefer the Muti, mainly because an Aida with an inadequate Anmeris is an Aida seriously faulted; in other respects honours remain equal.'