Everyone who hears it loves this recording of Verdi's early masterpiece. Small wonder. A first-rate ensemble from La Scala triumphantly charge through the murderous tale with unbounded confidence after a long-running production, and with a gut feeling for the true Verdian character and spirit. For Verdi himself, Macbeth was a hard birth. Struggling to revise shoddy rehearsal practice in a complacent mid-19th-century opera industry, he conducted long nightmarish rehearsals enforcing attention to his demands for strong stage characters. An indication of Verdi's success, and of the importance of his characterisation, is that Shirley Verrett, although audibly stretched in the higher register, still reigns as the ultimate Lady M. As in Shakespeare's original, the intense and tangible plight of the female part nearly outshines that of the principal anti-hero (Capucilli).With Lady Macbeth Verdi created his first real female star role of which he was to supply so many. Abbado is a master in observing detail and from both orchestra and soloists gets glittering performances and discipline in one go.Being cautious with his tempi, the conductor achieves deserved climaxes and a chillingly effective eerie throughline. Leave the lights on when listening to this. --Yngvil V.G.