Records International 'The detective work needed to understand the sources, characters and even the action is startling - and fully documented in the luxurious booklet.'

The Cast THE COUNT - Alfonso Antionozzi ANTONIA - Elisabetta Scano CHIARINA - Adriana Cicogna CARLINO - Paul Austin Kelly TRAPPOLINA - Elena Monti FILIDORO - Pietro Spagnoli  TOMMASO - Bruno Praticò  NICOLA - Alfonso Antionozzi FEDELE - Bruce Ford GIAPPONE - Clive Bayley (PMF Scholar) Academy of St Martin in the Fields CONDUCTOR - David Parry

Gramophone 'A Donizetti rarity restored to circulation with all of Opera Rara's customary flair.' Opera 'It is here given a satisfying performance, dominated and held together by Practicò in full flight as a mercenary con-man and by Spagnoli as his disreputable nephew (the 'Man in Black' of the title)... Jeremy Commons' excellent introductory essay in the accompanying booklet... is a model of what such things should be.'