G. Verdi - Attila

What the recording cannot reveal, obviously, is the efficiency of the direction by Sandro Sequi and the beauty of the sets by Pier Luigi Pizzi (the appearance of Pope Leo in a wheatfield will remain classic), but what it can highlight, thanks to the notable improvement in the sound quality produced by this remastering of the original tapes, is Muti's orchestration, which takes a different turn from equally praiseworthy precedents in Giulini and Bartoletti and, more so than in Rome, blends the electrifying passion of the strette with the epic inflection of the grandi finali, with an almost twentieth century fundamentalisation of colours and phrasing: the way ahead to the belcanto Attila of the 1980s is all here already.