tip-top precision from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra players. They reach a level of pristine excellence that any opera house orchestra- no matter how eminent- would struggle to equal...[Stoyanova's] lyric tone sounds convincingly Italianate, while her musicality pays dividends in the Willow Song

In Muti’s impeccably schooled Chicago Otello, the orchestra is the star. Aleksandrs Antonenko makes up in dramatic conviction what he lacks in tonal allure – and his top notes are thrilling.

Muti’s has all elements held in balance. This orchestra is certainly capable of the pile-driver brass… In Muti’s hands Otello remains and opera, not a concerto for orchestra… Muti’s treatment of the Act 3 prelude has such a sureness of dramatic purpose, it’s genius at a Toscaninian level…The orchestra play like a participatory character in the drama.

The orchestral sound is splendid particularly the incisive brass, who blaze brightly… Orchestra Hall offers a superb acoustic… For an audio souvenir of Antonenko’s Otello and for its brilliant orchestral playing, this is a welcome issue.

I can’t think of anyone singing the role today who does so as compellingly and powerfully as does Antonenko. He has heroic power and Italianate phrasing that put him up there with many of the finest...Stoyanova strikes the ear as rather too strident on her first entrance, but she mellows to give a very moving account of the love duet.

[Muti's] Otello has a new expansiveness, while not losing his earlier, youthful impulsiveness. Antonenko has emerged as the Otello of his generation...Stoyanova is an exquisite Desdemona, Carlo Guelfi a shouty, malevolent Iago.

[Muti's] pressured, detailed style suits Otello rather well...Stoyanova's assertive Desdemona and Aleksandrs Antonenko's Otello [are] among the finest on disc, beautifully sung and wonderfully insightful in his depiction of the Moor's psychological disintegration. The playing is sensational.