Critic Alan Blyth writes in his liner notes:

"The La Scala performance of 1952 is enlivened by De Sabata¹s superb conducting, at once precise, energetic, imbued with the rightful comedy and altogether exhilarating. The veteran baritone seems inspired by his conductor to present an even more imaginative and detailed portrayal than ever before, one quite unstaled by the thousand or so performances he had already given. This is a matter of subtler emphases and vocal chuckles that are so vivid as almost to bring the character before one at home. A critic who saw and heard him at the time wrote that he had to resort to some technical tricks to cover up a voice that was no longer in its prime, but added: "To offset that, his colouring of words was unique as were his gestures, how he moved, his command of the stage".

The 1941 Rome performance, or as much of it as survives, stems from the collection of the German Radio Archive in Frankfurt, and appears for the first time. It seems to be a studio performance as there is no evidence of any audience participation or stage movement. The sound is remarkable for its day. The recording houses an interpretation from Tullio Serafin markedly different from De Sabata¹s. Serafin¹s view of the work seems to be more autumnal, more ruminative than that of his Italian near-contemporary. No less well prepared or well played, it allows us to hear even more of the magic of the orchestration.

Artists

Mariano Stabile (Falstaff), Paolo Silveri (Ford), Renata Tebaldi (Alice), Anna Maria Canali (Meg), Cloe Elmo (Mistress Quickly), Cesare Valletti (Fenton), Rosanna Carteri (Nannetta), Giuseppe Nessi (Bardolfo), Italo Tajo (Pistola), Mariano Caruso (Dr Cajus), Tito Gobbi (Ford), Franca Somigli (Alice), Vittorico Palambini (Meg), Augusta Oltrabella (Nannetta), Ferruccio Tagliavini (Fenton), Cesare Masini-Sperti (Bardolfo), Adelio Zagonora (Dr Cajus), Benjamino Gigli (Radames), Renato Gigli (Otello), Gabriella Gatti (Desdemona), Piero Biasini (Iago)

Orchestra e Coro della Teatro alla Scala, Orchestra e Coro della Teatro Reale dell'Opera di Roma, Victor de Sabata