Gramophone

on the scenes from the 1826 version

'... its bravura complexities provide a real tour de force for Della Jones, who gives it a tremendous performance... this issue... deserves our thanks and congratulations.'
Sicilienne
The Cast

GABRIELLA
- Ludmilla Andrew
FAYEL - Christian du Plessis
RAOUL DE COUCY
- Maurice Arthur
FILIPPO II - John Tomlinson
ALMEIDE - Joan Davies
ARMANDO, A GENTLEMAN
OF THE HOUSEHOLD
- John Winfield

Scenes from
Gabriella di Vergy (1826):
GABRIELLA
- Eiddwen Harrhy
RAOUL DE COUCY
- Della Jones

Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
CONDUCTOR - Alun Francis
Records and Recording

'Here is a discovery indeed, a Donizetti opera dating from 1838, the period of his complete creative maturity. Our thanks for its discovery.

Its first performance last year at the Belfast Festival and now for its recording, are due to those operatic truffle-hounds, Don White and Patric Schmid...

Opera Rara has assembled a cast which may contain no famous international names but which provides singing of international standard.
Its sense of ensemble is akin to that of Glyndebourne, and there is an uncommon certainty and uniformity of style - the result no doubt, of the scholarship of Patric Schmid allied to the sensitivity of the conductor, Alun Francis.'