[Woodduck]

I found none of these satisfying, but two somewhat interesting and affecting. Those were Mafalda Salvatini's and Elfriede Trötschel's. Salvatini is fervent, more so than we generally hear in the aria, and that is certainly valid. The tempo is a bit rushed, probably to fit the music on the record, and we have to wonder, as so often, what she'd have done with the piece minus that time constraint. Trötschel presents Rusalka as young, sweet and innocent, perhaps shy, and at first I found this touching. I got slightly bored with it, but at least it was a point of view. I see that she's in a complete German-language performance of the opera on YouTube:

(17) Elfride Trötschel Gottlob Frick Lisa Otto Rusalka [Dvořák] full opera (1948, in German) - YouTube

Bork and Schneider are unimaginative and do nothing for me, and Destinn, though she sings expressively, had a voice that didn't record in a way that falls pleasantly on my ear.

I guess I'll go with Salvatini, despite some crudities of execution.