How I wish I could recommend this. The Canadian tenor Léopold Simoneau (1916-2006) was a most distinguished Mozartian. His ardent Idamante can be heard on the Glyndebourne recording of Idomeneo under Pritchard, and he also recorded Belmonte, Ferrando and Tamino. The prospect of seeing him as Gluck’s Orpheus, a role he never sang on stage, was mouth-watering. Sure enough, he sings eloquently, phrases musically and acts touchingly, apparently unfazed by the mountainous plumage that seems to be growing from the top of his head.

So what’s wrong? This production, which was made in 1961, comes from CBC Television in Montreal. At the time, as part of a series called “Concert Hour”, it must have seemed an enterprising choice: today, it’s hard to take. An unseen narrator talks over the overture and over the solemn introduction to the first chorus, and the second act just fades away as his voice returns. There are several cuts, including the second verse of Orpheus’s “Objet de mon amour” and the duet incorporated into Eurydice’s “Fortune ennemie”. The bravura air “L’espoir renaît dans mon âme” is omitted: fair enough, perhaps, as it inhabits another world altogether and might even be by another composer. Simoneau sings “J’ai perdu mon Eurydice” affectingly, but it’s transposed down a semitone.

Pierrette Alarie, also with an unbecoming headdress, is fine as Eurydice; so is Claire Gagnier as Cupid, though with her long tunic she looks too feminine. The production – in black and white, of course – is straightforward and free of gimmicks, apart from the otiose appearance of blessed spirits who dance throughout Orpheus’s “Quel nouveau ciel”. The earlier scene as Orpheus approaches the underworld is rather well done, the Furies looking like creatures out of a painting by Bosch.

Visually, the reproduction is fuzzy but tolerable. What really scuppers the project is the quality of the sound, which comes and goes alarmingly. It is good to have a glimpse of Simoneau in action, but he and Gluck are better served by the old Hans Rosbaud recording on CD (Philips) where, by the way, “J’ai perdu mon Eurydice” is sung at the correct pitch.