Verdi - Ah sì, ben mio-Di quella pira (Il Trovatore) - Lauri Volpi as Manrico, 1951 - with High Cs

Giacomo Lauri-Volpi (Manrico) e Caterina Mancini (Leonora) nel Recitativo, aria "Ah sì, ben mio" e cabaletta "Di quella pira", dalla Parte Terza de "Il Trovatore" di Giuseppe Verdi - dir. F.Previtali - Roma, reg. del 1951
Nell'articolo del 'New York Times' del 20 marzo 1979, intitolato "LAURI‐VOLPI DIES, FORMER MET TENOR", veniva scritto, tra le altre cose, del grande tenore di Lanuvio, che:
"He turned out to be one of the more durable tenors and could be heard singing in the opera houses of Italy when he was in his late 60's. At that time, he was still able to hit high C's and to hold them endlessly. Of a postwar recording made by him of “Il Trovatore,” John Briggs wrote in The Times: “The final high C of “All’armi!” is trumpeted forth with the sustained intensity of a stuck organ pipe. Mr. Lauri‐Volpi's is one of those cast‐iron voices like Martinelli's, produced with sheer force, yet unmarred by the passing years."

[@jimdrake-writer]

How any critic or writer could describe Lauri-Volpi's voice as "cast iron" like Martinelli's is beyond my comprehension. Neither tenor was well-served by studio recordings, and are best heard on recordings taken directly from stage performances.