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Title: Covent Garden Glows
Review: Stemming from a 1957 television concert, this recording from Lord Harewood's private collection is pretty irresistible.Joan Sutherland and John Vickers in youthful top form in English language excerpts from ZAUBERFLOTE (Act I Finale)and MEISTERSINGER (Just under thirty minutes of excerpts from Act III) under the sure direction of Rafael Kubelik. What more could you want ? The sound recording is clear and listenable. James Pease also makes a strong contribution as Hans Sachs.Sutherland and Vickers are simply glorious ! (Sutherland's diction notably clearer than it was to be just a few years later.)This is a very strong recommend.The filler, Sutherland's first studio recording, I believe originally released as a 45, of arias and songs by Donizetti, Spohr and Rossini accompanied by Richard Bonynge on piano, is also quite wonderful, but it has had several incarnations on CD. It is a pity that some other rarer Sutherland or Vickers materiel might have been included instead.
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