I owned this recording on vinyl but until I listened again to the reissued CD I had forgotten how dreadful it was. Dame Joan, whom I admired in her repertory and even sometimes outside it, was miserably miscast in this leaden reading of an opera that can soar when in the hand of singers with the temperament and musical idiom called for. It will please neither fans of the opera nor fans of the stupendous superstar in the title role, and I cannot imagine why it was dredged up out of a back catalog with so many worthier out of print recordings to choose from. Even the noble talents of Christa Ludwig were thrown away on this project - she could not save it from the dull hand on the baton and the tuneless wailing of the lead soprano, floundering in a score that had nothing in common with her gifts. Save your money.