The touchstone recording for learning this music was the one starring Nicolai Gedda and Mirella Freni conducted by Francesco Molinari-Pradelli. As you never forget your first, this continued to be my favorite through the years despite fine recordings with Sutherland/Pavarotti and Contrubas/Domingo as well as both TV broadcasts with the Pav (both Blegen and Battle).

However… all that changed when I stumbled on this video version from 1967 starring Renata Scotto and Carlo Bergonzi. Similar to the famous Naples Forza (with Tebaldi and Corelli), the sets look like they might blow away in the wind…. but the music! The voices! The style! These people innately know how this music works.

Scotto is adorable, her voice is fresh, and it is great to see her in comedy. Bergonzi is a lovable bumpkin who pours his voice into Una furtiva lagrima. Carlo Cava as Dulcamara has a sense of the style that seems innate without overplaying, and Giuseppe Taddei as Belcore is luxury casting vocally. This video really takes one back to a time and style that seems almost lost and yet it seems fresh and new.