The 1952 RCA recording of Verdi’s “Il trovatore” starring Jussi Björling can now be heard at a higher quality than ever before thanks to High Definition Tape Transfers and Harmony Restorations’ newest release.

This celebrated recording features Björling along with Zinka Milanov, Fedora Barbieri, Leonard Warren, Nicola Moscon, Margaret Roggero, and Paul Franke. Renato Cellini is heard leading the RCA Victor Orchestra and the Robert Shaw Chorale. This recording was made between February 21 and March 16, 1952 at Manhattan Center in New York City.

Also included on this remastering is a bonus track combining Björling and Maria Callas in a “live” excerpt. John Haley of Harmony Restorations explains, “In the bonus excerpt, beginning with the ‘Miserere’ and continuing to the end of that scene, I have taken a 1951 live recording of Callas from Naples … and removed her tenor throughout, then dubbed in Björling from a radio performance of the same music after extracting his voice from it…Though inspired by it, this is NOT from the long-lost Chicago performance, and I hope my little fantasy will be enjoyed in the spirit of fun in which it is offered.”

This new high-resolution remastering is sourced from the rare, previously unplayed British HMV monophonic commercial reel-to-reel tapes. It is available on CD and in a variety of high resolution download formats. Robert Witrak served as the Chief Engineer on the restoration project.