I never paid much attention to Roberta Peters in the house, but she delivers a wonderful performance here, very attentive to every aspect of the role, not just the Bell Song (which she sings brilliantly.) She is a nice surprise and delivers a beautiful, sensitive, heartfelt performance in the title part. Pierre Duval, famous only for singing Arturo on the first Sutherland Puritani after Gedda pooped out (then disappearing completely from further commercial recordings) is very good as Gerald. A bit crude, perhaps, not a lot of finesse or modulation, but he sings the role well -- more Italianate than French, which is a bit surprising for a French-Canadian trained singer. Sgarro is menacing and powerful as Nalankitha, rounding out a very strong cast. There is everything to love about this performance, also well recorded. Delibes was a very great composer (Tchaikovsky admired him tremendously) and this recording of Lakme proves it.

What a pity Rudolf Bing didn't revive Lakme in the late 50s or 60s at the Met! Delibes' tuneful score had not been heard there since 1947, and a number of sopranos would've been so lovely in the title role (Peters, Grist, Dobbs, and D'Angelo just to name a few) . Nevertheless Peters was finally able to sing the complete role away from the Met in 1968. She is charming and touching in her portrayal. The Bell Song is predictably terrific, but Peters is also lovely in the other arias, especially the last act lullaby where she floats a gentle top C. Duval sings well, interpolating a top C at the end of his Act 1 aria. Other tenors have been more lyrical and sweeter in tone in this role, but Duval holds his own. Sgarro was probably relieved to have a bigger role than he usually got at the Met; he sings his Act 2 aria with the requisite tenderness. The rest of the cast is very good. Richard Karp leads very efficiently, including more of the score than customary. We get the Act 2 ballet and Hadji's aria and a fuller account of Act 3.The sound is very listenable, the voices heard clearly over the orchestra. The tape is at the correct pitch. As a bonus, we are given another account of the Bell Song sung by Peters, probably from the Voices of Firestone program. Despite a momentary memory glitch in the second verse, Peters sounds even fresher (though here the pitch of the tape sounds slightly sharp towards the end).All Peters fans should have this.