I’d never heard this opera before, and I was very pleasantly surprised. I don’t look to bel canto for raw emotion, but I got it here (did Caballe just SNARL?). Carreras’ voice is gorgeous.

Wonderful recording with Caballe,Carraeras& the under appreciated Marsee. Sound is very good too.

In 1977, the Aix-en-Provence Festival produced Donizetti's "Roberto Devereux," directed by Alberto Fassini (a protégé of Luchino Visconti), starring José Carreras, Montserrat Caballé, Susanne Marsee, Vicente Sardinero, and Ferruccio Furlanetto, and conducted by the late Julius Rudel with, unfortunately, the usual interpolations and cuts familiar from the period.The full extant of the beauty of Carreras' voice is heard here in the title rôle of the Earl of Essex, and he sings with admirable abandon, as well. The voice of Caballé was also, of course, one of the most beautiful instruments before the public, and, in this particular performance, she sings with great energy. Some might prefer, nevertheless, the singing-actress approach of the other celebrated post-War exponents of the rôle of Elisabetta, Leyla Gencer and Beverly Sills.Miss Marsee had made her European début earlier that year, at the Spoleto Festival, in "Così fan tutte," and here replaced Grace Bumbry as Sara, Duchess of Nottingham. That rôle was an important one in the great singing-actress's career (and remains her favorite), having débuted at the New York City Opera in this opera, opposite Sills, Plácido Domingo, and Louis Quilico, in 1970. In 1975, she appeared in a national telecast of the work from Wolf Trap Farm Park, in Tito Capobianco’s production. Here, she is thrilling as the hapless Duchess, her singular voice throttled with passion.