Classic CD

'Baker is unquestionably the star, though she is a very different kind of singer than a Gruberova or Sutherland, her recorded rivals are squarely in the Italian tradition. Baker's vocal style suits the English words so well that she almost reinvents the part in an entirely appropriate British guise. She had a gift for communicating suffering nobility, and the tragically penitent Queen of Scots, as sanctified in Continental eyes, suited her especially well... Baker's fine-spun tone, far gentler than Rosalind Plowright's, delineates Mary's sweeter nature beautifully, yet shifts convincingly to steely outrage as she (fictitiously!) confronts her captor.'

The Times

'Here are Janet Baker and Rosalind Plowright firing on all cylinders as the rival Queens of Scotland and England. Plowright is full of fire as Elizabeth, breathing vengeance on all who flout her will. The dark tones in her voice as well as the chilling strength of the upper register show how right she was for the part. This may be Donizetti but the role demands the qualities of a Verdi dramatic soprano.'

CHAN 3017
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
Mary Stuart