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Verdi's Otello is a larger-than-life role, calling for a tenor of Wagnerian vocal power and stage presence. In the late 20th century, two singers fully met its specifications--Jon Vickers and Placido Domingo. Both were filmed in video productions of unusual quality, and a choice between them boils down, ultimately, to a question of personal taste. In this 1973 production, Vickers is given an effective context to set off his powerful, carefully considered characterization. Mirella Freni is an appealing Desdemona, Peter Glossop is a credibly vicious Iago, and the cast is solid right down to the very young future star Jose van Dam in a small supporting role. The chorus and orchestra rank with the world's best. Herbert von Karajan's direction, musical and theatrical, is a source of both strength and shortcomings. His power and prestige allowed him to assemble stellar casts and to scoff at budget limitations. He was also able to take the production beyond the opera house's visual limitations with on-location filming, an opportunity that is exploited with powerful impact in the storm-at-sea scene that opens this Otello. His personal musical taste sometimes tended to favor polish at the expense of expressive intensity. But he does present Verdi's score intact, without the cuts made in the 1986 cinematic production directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starring Domingo. Personally, I find the Zeffirelli Otello dramatically compelling, but Von Karajan's--or Georg Solti's 1992 version with Domingo and Kiri Te Kanawa--is closer to what Verdi had in mind. --Joe McLellan
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