Eugene G. Barnes | Dunn Loring, VA USA | 10/06/2002
(3 out of 5 stars)
"It's a live performance, and so comes with all the imperfections (on the one hand) and vitality (on the other) one expects of such an endeavor. Pretre's pacing is far, far superior to Chung's (and the latter has Domingo!), especially in the final scene. Pretre measures and builds, Chung simply races through it. Pretre's Dalila, Cossotto, however, isn't too good. Her "My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice" is utterly devoid of any ability to take Pretre's beat. She seems to speed up inartistically when she feels her breath is running out or something. What is that all about? Still, for lovers of this opera (count me in!), these CDs are worth a listen for the many nice moments they record very clearly."