In 1956, soprano Anita Cerquetti gave two aria recitals on Italian radio. These were preserved, and for a while they were available on CD, packaged in red velvet boxes. Recently, these recordings turned up on YouTube, and they are thrilling to hear.
The Cerquetti story is not a happy one; in 2014, Christopher Purdy wrote about her all-too-brief career on his blog:
https://christophercpurdy.blogspot.com/2014/10/anita-cerquetti-introduction-and.html
Listen to the two concerts here.
In the year between the first concert and the second, the voice sadly began to show signs of decline, though there is still much to enjoy in her singing in the December concert.
As a side note, in 1965 I met Maestro Ziino (conductor of the January concert) after he led a performance of TROVATORE at the Cincinnati Zoo Opera, starring Martina Arroyo and Irene Dalis.
~ Oberon
Oberon's Glade 