This rare recording captures Franco Bonisolli in a role that allows him to demonstrate not only his renowned vocal bravura but also his unexpectedly refined sense of musicianship. His performance is more nuanced than one might expect, shaped by well-judged phrasing and a clear commitment to the score's expressive demands.

Darius Milhaud's final opera reveals a shift toward a more diatonic palette, especially when compared to his earlier work, La Mère coupable. While still unmistakably his in its harmonic language and rhythmic intricacy, this opera is marked by greater accessibility, giving it an understated dramatic immediacy that serves the libretto well.