Decca's reissue of its 1961 all-star recording of Un ballo in maschera is a disappointment on most counts. Even though it was produced by John Culshaw during Decca's golden age of studio recordings, the sound quality is mostly mediocre: the soloists are often overshadowed by the orchestra, and the sound is shallow, with little sense of meaningful spatial relationships.
Georg Solti leads the Orchestra and Chorus of Accademia di Santa Cecilia in a performance that's energetic if not particularly nuanced. He takes the second-act ensemble "Odi tu come fremono cupi" at such breakneck speed that the singers can barely spit out all the words, and its closing is so ragged it comes close to being a train wreck, except that everyone does manage to end together. (This is a spot where someone really ought to have said, "Okay, let's do another take.") Of the principals, only the sopranos deserve unqualified praise.
Birgit Nilsson's Amelia is sweet but passionate and she sings with complete security.
Sylvia Stahlman is adorable as Oscar and she sparkles in "Saper vorreste."
Carlo Bergonzi is mostly very fine as Riccardo; his voice is heroic, and he is convincing dramatically, but his intonation is not always steady. Cornell MacNeil doesn't sound very deeply invested in the role of Renato, so that even a sure-fire showpiece like "Eri tu" fails to come across with power, and his intonation is sometimes perilously off pitch.
Giulietta Simionato is bland and seriously underpowered as Ulrica, and she is not helped by the distant miking of her solos.