Gwyneth Jones had only been singing soprano for a year or so when this performance took place. It may have been the first or among the first performances of this music she had sung. As such she sings very well with an instinctive and musical sense of line. The top notes are taken easily though they would become more integrated into her voice as she became more experienced as a singer. One can hear her potential as a first-class Verdi soprano, a potential reached within only a few years.James King not only sings the tenor role well, but sounds like he has devised his own character for the musical drama. He demonstrates again what a tremendous singer and musician he was. Micheline Brunet and Bruno Carmeli sing their parts with great attention to detail with good, if not great, voices. Pretre leads a less mannered performance here than he would later on. The chorus and orchestra are both excellent. The sound, from a broadcast, is mostly good, some passing distortion and radio static aside. The very beginning of the "Libera me" is extremely faint due to some technical glitch, but it soon rights itself.Recommended to fans of the singers.

I enjoyed this recording very much. The sound is not the best but it is very listenable to and there is much to enjoy. I would deem Pretre, Nrunet and Carmeli as good and enjoyable, if without being in a class of the competition. Jones and King are in that very competitive class. King is a wonderful tenor, who in America was largely typecast in Wagner and Strauss. He was wonderful in this repertoire but he also has much to bring to the Italian / French repertoire and this performance shows what he has. He is very secure with wonderful top notes. His voice has a very attractive quality and he is a very secure singers. Jones is sublime. In 1965 the voice was in fantastic shape and she has the size and quality to do this assignment great justice. Hearing her here one would have thought she would have become the Verdi Soprano for the future. Her career went into another direction but that does not undermine the greatness of what she does here.

Is a decent performance of the Verdi Requiem with decent sonics for a live performance from this date. James King is the star of the performance and it's nice to hear him sing this repertoire, although it is not as pleasing to the ear as his Strauss or Wagner in my opinion. Love Jones in many of the fine recordings available through Opera Depot, but this seems not to have been a great night for her. The other two soloists are serviceable and the performance over all is the same.