This performance, live from the Royal Albert Hall, makes a quite positive case for a work once widely appreciated but now mostly forgotten. Sutherland is truly astonishing in her role as the Queen; Tourangeau brings her distinctive timbre to the role of Urbain; I have never heard Martina Arroyo in such superb voice; Vrenios offers lyrical beauty and power; and the lower male voices are very fine as well. Truly a night of Seven Stars. Bonynge conducts with authority. He clearly loves and believes in the work. What a joy that we have this recorded document of such a rare and often thrilling work. Five stars.

Very good performance with Sutherland and Arroyo in fantastic form. Especially Anastasios Vrenios is much better than on official commercial Decca recording

Most of the principals in this concert performance reunited with Bonynge and Sutherland the next year when Meyerbeer's classic grand opera was taken into the studio for its first complete recording. A lot of the opera was cut in this performance to accommodate the patience of a contemporary audience, but there is enough here to give a sense of the scope and power of this work.Sutherland is magnificent in the relatively short role of Marguerite. Her big Act Two scena is definitely a highlight of the performance. She had done the role previously with Corelli as Raul at La Scala, but Vrenios is better suited to the role and, in fact, gives a very good account of himself. He easily sails up to the highest notes (including an interpolated high E in Act Three) and is a worthy partner to both Sutherland and Arroyo. Arroyo was in great shape, her role less florid than Sutherland's, but nearly as high. She sustains some thrilling top C's throughout the evening and is most sympathetic. Ghiuselev sounds the crusty Marcel to the life and Cossa is a fine Nevers. Bonynge leads his swollen forces with authority. One gets the sense that he loves this music very much.The sound is listenable, the voices clearly heard, but with a slight echo around them probably from the hall's acoustics. There is a bad patch in Act Four during one of Saint Bris's moments where the tapist had to move the mic around, causing a scraping, cluttered sound, but it only lasts a minute or so.

Meyerbeer's "Les Huguenots," pleasant but inconsequential, gets a better performance than it deserves. Joan Sutherland dominates the first half of the performance, in dazzling form as Marguerite de Valois. Few tenors could match her but, on this occasion, Anastasios Vrenios was one such, particularly when the role of Raoul de Nangis requires him to launch into the vocal stratosphere. Martina Arroyo is a little too given to "larmes de la voix" but also makes a strong impression. Nicola Ghiuselev is an adequate Marcel and the many smaller roles are well-taken. Aside from one ill-placed cough, the in-house recording is quite listenable.

Too much abridged, alas

I liked Sutherland and Arroyo, however for me the difference between Vrenios on DECCA studio recording and this live recording it is not so great, to be worth buying this recording for that special reason.

very good