The Leonora of Leontyne Price is the high point of the Mehta recording: her velvety, sensuous articulation of what's certainly an 'immenso, eterno amor' is entirely distinctive and dramatically astute. The New Philharmonia is a no less ardent exponent. Mehta's pacing may be uneven, his accompanying breathless, but he draws robust playing in bold primary colours to which the recording gives vivid presence.
The acoustic serves Manrico less well: he seems to be singing in the bath when we first overhear him. This, though, is a younger, simpler Domingo than the one we encounter elsewhere, and there are passages of wonderfully sustained intensity. Cossotto's Azucena is disappointing.
All the vocal tricks and techniques are there, but it's very much a concert performance, and we're never entirely engaged.

The soaring curve of Leontyne Price's rich vocal line is immediately thrilling in her famous Act 1 aria, and it sets the style of the RCA performance, full-boded and with dramatic tension consistently high. The choral contribution is superb...Domingo sings with a heroic quality worthy of Caruso himself.