Compared with most of the competition, Solti's recording doesn't have a great deal to offer. In spite of a generally excellent supporting cast, it is let down primarily by the leading characters. Leontyne Price is a dramatically committed Ariadne, but by this stage in her career her voice was far from ideal for the role. The whole of the bottom half sounds breathy and husky, whilst she has an unfortunate mannerism of sliding downwards from high notes which causes her phrasing to sound unsupple. Even in the prologue her singing doesn't really pass muster - she certainly conveys the primadonna's unpleasantness, but emerges as even more of a caricature than is desirable. She is at her best when singing quiet high notes, which she is still able to carry out with impressive ease. As Bacchus, Ren� Kollo, a rather uneven singer, is in reasonably good voice, with his tendency to squeeze and the slight beat in the upper register generally under control. Unfortunately this still isn't really enough for a part as demanding as Bacchus, and he is little more than adequate, sounding rather weedy, in spite of some attention to characterisation beyond that of many of his rivals.

Edita Gruberov� displays a formidable technique in the role of Zerbinetta. She has the most incredible breath control, enabling her to spin out the highest notes of the role into perfectly controlled pianissimos, and she has total command of the runs and trills, including ones that most sopranos leave out. Because of her breath control she is able to sing the aria slower than usual, and yet she avoids it becoming sluggish. She is also very extrovert in her performance, highly coquettish and full of fun. The drawback is the actual tone of the voice, which isn't particularly attractive, and can be rather hard-edged for all its dynamic control. As the composer, Tatiana Troyanos sings with dark, lustrous tone and plenty of spirit. She does not use as much variation in colour as the very best composers, and although she is able to sing the highest parts of the role without any sacrifice of tonal quality, you are still aware of the good technique behind her performance, so that there is some loss of spontaneity. Hers is, neverthess, a very attractive and enjoyable contribution.

Among the minor roles there is a very good set of comedians who sing with an appropriate lightness and blend well. Gerhard Unger is an exceptional Brighella, singing sweetly right up to his top Cs. Walter Berry improves on his music master for Leinsdorf, sounding more varied and less stolid here. Erich Kunz, a bass-baritone celebrated for his sense of comedy, is a very amusing major domo here, using many subtle inflections to produce a character wry and humorously obtuse rather than just plain cynical. Both he and the listener derive a great deal of enjoyment from his pronouncement of the all-important 'gleichzeitig.

Solti's conducting is efficient without being particular interesting or revelatory. It sometimes tends towards the hectic. The sound balance, rather surprisingly for Decca, favours the voices, with the orchestra somewhat in the background. This is particularly noticeable after the instrumental introductions to the two halves of the piece, after which the orchestra seem to recede into the distance. As with the earlier Decca set, there are some sound effects. Once again though, these are not obtrusive.