I don-t believe we are likely to ever hear a better sung or more fully realized Minnie or Dick Johnson than what we have here in this truly marvelously sung, beautifully realized recording in sumptuous, state of the art early stereo by Decca. Both Tebaldi and Del Monaco were in their absolute prime and at their as-good-as-it-gets. inspired best when they recorded this Puccini masterpiece in 1958, and the supporting cast, most especially Cornell MacNeil and Giorgio Tozzi, could hardly be surpassed. The conducting of Franco Capuano is most definitely more than competent, but one only needs to compare it with the stellar live 1954 performance from Florence of "Fanciulla" under the truly incandescent leadership of the late, great, sadly under-represented Dimitri Mitropoulos to appreciate just how considerable the gap is between competent and truly inspired. That 1954 performance also has, in addition to Del Monaco wonderful again as Johnson, the pitifully under-recorded Eleanor Steber as Minnie in a role that fit her like a glove. IMO, if you want to appreciate what a masterpiece this work--unfortunately often referred to condescendingly as "Puccini's horse opera"-- truly is, you need to get both this stellar 1958 Decca recording and the comparably incandescent 1954 live recording from Florence, though availability of the latter may be a problem. -- R. A. Verville