La Sonnambula had not been performed often at the Royal Opera when this performance was recorded. Sutherland had made a big impact a decade earlier, but Scotto (although known for the role of Amina) had yet to sing it for the Royal Opera. She is sensational. Her ability to fuse the bel canto line with a heightened interpretation of the text are second to none and I'm including Callas in that. Other singers may make a prettier sound or have more ringing high notes, but Scotto's supremacy in bel canto is displayed in every scene here.Her colleagues are dependable. Welsh tenor Burrows had a solid top up to at least high C and he sings handsomely without the tremolo that began to invade his tone a few years later. I would've preferred him to sing the top lines in the duets as the composer wrote them, but that might've made the role too high for him. Robinson always sang well and here with excellent diction he makes something of a role that often goes for nothing. Gomez is a good Lisa (she gets a verse of her often cut aria in the last act) and Begg brings some backbone to Teresa. Cillario makes fewer cuts than usual. The audience remains silent after Scotto's heartbreaking "Ah, non credea", but explodes at the end of the opera. Excellent broadcast sound makes this a winning set for everyone.All Scotto fans should have this.

Stewart Burrows was a wonderful lyric tenor, but he was no more English than for instance Pavarotti or Melchior.He was WELSH and I trust still is, though his great days of singing are I fear well into the past tense.