Gala GL 100.605	Myto 3MCD 011 235	Memories
Selika	Shirley Verrett	Martina Arroyo	Jessye Norman
Inez	Evelyn Mandac	Evelyn Brunner	Mietta Sighele
Vasco da Gama	Placido Domingo	Giorgio Casellato-Lamberti	Veriano Luchetti
Nelusko	Norman Mittelman	Sherrill Milnes	Gian Giacomo Guelfi
Don Pedro	Simon Estes	Alexander Malta	Agostino Ferrin
Conductor	Jean Perisson	Gerd Albrecht	Riccardo Muti

I can think of few operas where a state of the art commercial recording is more desperately needed than Meyerbeer's L'africaine. The Verrett (based on a performance in San Francisco in 1973), is now back in print. It was originally issued by several private firms on LP, then became briefly available on Legato CD, and, after a lapse of several years on Gala. Regrettably, I was never able to warm up to the performance, finding Placido Domingo ill-suited to the requirements of French grand opera. Nor am I am enthusiastic about having a mezzo sing a part written for dramatic soprano. On the plus side, it is in the original French, and some important cuts have been opened, although there are other incomprehensible cuts.

More recently, Legato Classics has released a Barcelona performance from 1977, again with Placido Domingo, but this time with Montserrat Caballé. This performance is in Italian, and is too badly cut for me to be able to recommend it to any but devoted fans of Meyerbeer, of Caballé, or of Domingo.

Fortunately, the Munich performance conducted by Gerd Albrecht, and starring Giorgio Casellato-Lamberti, Martina Arroyo and Sherrill Milnes has now been released, making it the version of choiuce for this opera. It is the most complete, even including the important tenor cabaletta: "Conduisez-moi". Some additional music only performed in San Francisco is added as a bonus.

When and if the long awaited commercial recording does materialize, I would hope that the tenor selected for Vasco is someone of the caliber of Dario Volonte, Roumen Doykoff, or Gegam Grigorian. Debbie Voigt should be perfect for Selika.

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