This album reproduces Price’s famed “Blue Album,” her first solo operatic recital for RCA. Accompanied throughout by the Rome Opera Orchestra, tracks from Aida, Madama Butterfly, La Rondine, Tosca, and Turandot were conducted by Oliviero de Fabriiis in 1960 and recorded in three-channel. The mikes are a bit distant, offering maximum air and resonance around the voice while sacrificing a bit of directness. Occasionally the orchestra threatens to drown out the soloist, just as it does in live performance. Then again, these tracks give us Leontyne Price in priceless first bloom.