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Thanks for your enquiry, Larus; I am always happy to help if I can. I think with regard to Christoff’s two live recordings, both conducted by Bartoletti in 1962 and 1976 respectively, there is little doubt that the earlier one is preferable and it is available in a good Urania label issue – or more cheaply on Opera d’Oro. The later cast is not as distinguished and Christoff is not in such fresh voice. You can hear that earlier recording on YouTube.

Regarding Ghiaurov, you can again sample the whole operas conducted by both Sinopoli (1980) and Muti (1972) on YouTube. The sound on the latter isn’t as good and unfortunately it isn’t widely available but I much prefer Gencer to Zampieri, whom I find hooty and unsteady, and the ever-undervalued Luchetti is superior to Sinopoli's tenor. However, there is also a live 1975 recording conducted by Patanè on the Myto and Bongiovanni labels with a great cast of Cappuccilli, Luchetti and Rita Orlandi Malaspina; that, too, is available complete on YouTube. She in particular is terrific, surprisingly better than either Zampieri and Gencer – but unfortunately CD copies are rare.