Elizabeth, but equally powerful, and more regal is her command - "Be silent! Leave me! - to the Lord Chancellor who brings to Fotheringay news of her condemnation to death.... Rosalind Plowright gives what must have been one of the supreme performances of her career. The writing for Elizabeth makes immense demands of the singer, and in these fearsome opening solos the technical challenges are triumphantly met, the voice thrillingly ample, the quality in full bloom.'

Gramophone

'Dame Janet Baker..as Mary Stuart she frees the vibrations, allows a softer use of head tones, is altogether more feminine, the imperious manner held in reserve for special moments. And how telling they are! Everyone remembers the 'Royal Bastard!' in confrontation with

CHAN 3073
3 December 2008

Libretto by Giuseppe Bardari
after Schiller
English translation by Tom Hammond

The Cast

Dame Janet Baker, mezzo-soprano - Mary Stuart Rosalind Plowright, soprano (PMF Scholar) - Queen Elizabeth I
David Rendall, tenor - Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester
Alan Opie, baritone - Sir William Cecil
John Tomlinson, bass - George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury
Angela Bostock, soprano - Hannah Kennedy
English National Opera Chorus
English National Opera Orchestra
Sir Charles Mackerras - conductor

Recorded 'Live' from the London Coliseum
1, 10, 14, 22 April 1982
Producer - John Fraser
Sound engineers - Stuart Eltham & Michael Sheady

Janet Baker Sings Mary Stuart