GIORDANO: “ANDREA CHENIER.” Zinka Milanov, Mario del...

GIORDANO: “ANDREA CHENIER.” Zinka Milanov, Mario del Monaco, Leonard Warren; Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Fausto Cleva. MET-15 (two compact discs or two cassettes). (Available for a $150 contribution from the Metropolitan Opera Fund, Box 930, New York, N.Y. 10023). Nobody suspected it was a golden age while they were living through it, but if this is how Giordano’s fantasy of the French revolutionary poet fared on the afternoon of Dec. 4, 1954, then we’d all better look back with regret. Bold, authoritative singing like that delivered by Milanov’s Maddalena, del Monaco’s Chenier and Warren’s Carlo Gerard is these days a part of contemporary casting fantasies, rather than an opera house reality. The performance is stagy, unsubtle (Del Monaco would appear to have located the radio microphone and rarely relinquishes it) and immensely enjoyable. Cleva’s no-nonsense conducting of the percussion-heavy orchestra is an additional plus. The digitalized restoration is impressive, and like all the Met Historic Broadcasts, the packaging is lavish.