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If you are looking for just one all-around great dvd of Don Carlo, this may not be the exact thing for you, from a dramatic or visual standpoint. It's a very good recording as to the singing aspects. Pavarotti sings very nicely. He has a nice Corelli-ish edge to the voice which gives the impression of drama, but at the same time he has a lyric feel - I really enjoy listening to him here. Dessi is a great Italian soprano. This is a good role for her. People are often looking for a rich voice and sometimes count out a singer like Dessi for dramatic roles but hers is a timeless Italian sound - the voice has a bit of a hard edge to it but it is still pretty; it is not a fat voice but neither is it thin; her technique is excellent. She sounds a bit similar to the great German soprano Gundula Janowitz in the famous live recording with Corelli. Her acting is nice and she looks good. Only a couple times I wished for a little more freedom from her on the high notes. Dessi's middle and lower registers are great. Ramey is no less than great and the baritone and the mezzo do their jobs nicely both delivering some lovely moments.
I am editing this review here and Amazon does not allow you to change how many stars you give it, but I think now I would go down to 2 stars and recommend you pass this one up, simply because all three of the men, Pavarotti, Croft, and Ramey sing lovely but with hardly a hint of emotion, so I am not really playing this one very much anymore.
One more note on Pavarotti: I enjoy his singing very much, but even in phrasing he is more lacking in passion in this recording than he usually is, (which is a shame since Don Carlo is such a passionate character). This is a recording made from the infamous run at La Scala where during one of the performances he cracked and was booed. Pavarotti says he basically was unprepared and allowed the voice to drop in uncertainty. You can sense his lack of confidance in this whole recording. He still comes off as the consummate professional he is, but the confidance you generally hear from him is lacking here.
Just to make a small correction from another review: When Pavarotti calls 'Elisabetta'(Italian) 'Isabella'(both Italian and Spanish), he is perfectly following the libretto. The story is Spanish but the libretto is Italian translated from French. The names 'Isabel' and 'Elizabeth' have branched off from early versions of the name and they both mean 'consecrated one'. The names are used interchangeably in the libretto. All Don Carlo-es (pural) sing it the same way, interchanging the names as the libretto dictates.