These are respectively the first and third of Decca's four recordings of Otello. The earliest was considered rather blatant but gained in esteem when it appeared 18 years ago in stereo for the first time. Erede's conducting is slack and the performance suffers from del Monaco's insistently loud singing-the supposedly pp close of the love duet is taken at full throttle. Although he is a powerful, imposing Moor, wholly able to meet Verdi's inordinate demands on his tenor, he surpassed his interpretation in his account for Karajan on Decca's second recording, where he added some pathos to the powerful reading disclosed here. Tebaldi also sang a subtler Desdemona for Karajan, although here she is in marginally better voice. Protti was the company's dull house baritone in those days, just as Nucci is today, and fails to offer any special insights into the character of Iago. He, like del Monaco, is often oblivious to Verdi's dynamic markings.
The Solti version obviously enjoys better recording and benefits from his mercurial, though not always stable, conducting. The soloists, all with something to offer in their own right, are an ill-assorted trio. Cossutta is a dark-hued, fierily vibrant Otello in the Vinay mould. His singing is always attentive to the score's requirements and he presents, as I said in my original review, ''a very plausible portrait of an honourable man, seemingly wronged and racked by despair'', but misses some of the deeper aspects of character exposed by Vinay (Toscanini) and Vickers (Serafin).
Bacquier, by contrast, is one of the subtlest Iagos on disc, his verbal colouring unmatched by anyone except Gobbi (Serafin), and he has a mind alive to every nuance of the part but doesn't consistently provide the tone or line to second his excellent intentions. Price's performance is faultless in voice or technique, but she isn't as moving, at least until Act 4, as Scotto (Levine) or Rysanek (Serafin).
By and large, the Serafin surpasses both these Decca versions and remains the recommendation at mid (indeed perhaps any) price if you want a stereo recording. In the historic field it is matched, even bettered, by the 1947 Toscanini and 1938 Panizza (Music and Arts), both live and thrilling performances.'