Presto Classical
Katherine Cooper
April 2014
“Maazel's 1976 studio recording boasts Beverly Sills in her prime as the eponymous courtesan, exuding a cool but tangible eroticism and sounding utterly at home with the role's high tessitura. Sherrill Milnes rages splendidly as the fanatical Athanaël without ever descending into bluster, and Nicolai Gedda is luxury casting as his acolyte Nicias.”