Even today the true stature of Lisitsian has not been fully acknowledged (for instance he doesn't get a mention even in JBS's The Grand Tradition—Duckworth: 1974). Because most of his career encompassed the Stalinist and post-Stalinist Soviet Union, he spent little time abroad, none when he was in his absolute prime. His electrifying baritone stands like a beacon shining from an oppressive time in his homeland. His voice has a tangy, incisive quality that makes it immediately recognizable. The ease of production throughout a large range is as astonishing as its flexibility and total security of emission. No note in his armoury has even a suspicion of unsteadiness. Add to that an intellect of a kind commensurate with the voice and you have one of the century's great artists.
Evidence to confirm that view is here in abundance. The Verdi items are among the most persuasive ever committed to disc. Lisitsian's ''Eri tu?'' manages to balance anger and sadness in the right proportions, with his legato and breath control pefectly adumbrated in the second half. Those characteristics are confirmed in the duet with Violetta from Act 2 of La traviata and in an immaculately phrased ''Di Provenza''. Even the impediment of the Russian translation hardly seems to matter here. The account of the Pagliacci Prologue shows Lisitsian's ability to act with his voice, as does the pitying piece from Zaza, although you may feel the tone here lacks a fuller, more Italianate warmth needed for verismo works.
Naturally he is most in his element in Russian opera. You would have to seek far to find more affecting accounts of Mazeppa's and Yeletsky's moving arias, and the only quibble about his account of Onegin's solo is a failure always to find the shades others have done. The piece from Tchaikovsky's The Enchantress again demonstrates the singer's histrionic gifts. The rare items from Rubinstein's Nero and Arshak II by Tchukhatjian (an Armenian compatriot of the singer and founder of Armenian opera in the nineteenth century) are welcome in themselves as much as for the singing. The original recordings all give a realistic idea of Lisitsian's gifts; they have been more than faithfully transferred here.'