We are again in debt to Opera Rara and Sir Peter Moores for extending their invaluable series of first versions of Verdi operas. Vêpres is usually performed, if it is given at all, in Italian translation, but like Don Carlos it was composed to a French text and sounds much better in that form, especially when performed with the conviction shown by these BBC forces under Mario Rossi; the conductor had been responsible for reviving many of the then rarely heard scores on Italian radio during the 1951 Verdi centenary year.

From start to finish he energises his excellent cast and well-rehearsed orchestra to extract the best from an admittedly uneven piece, giving full measure to even the weakest parts. Oddly, he does not conduct the ‘Four Seasons’ ballet, which is assigned to a Royal Ballet conductor of the day, Ashley Lawrence. The performance, in North London’s Camden Theatre, was before an enthusiastic audience.

The cast is headed by two exceptional Francophone singers. The more eloquent is the French-Canadian tenor Jean Bonhomme, then active at Covent Garden (from where I recall his singing with pleasure). His Henri is fresh in timbre, ardent then tormented as he is torn between love and duty, and thoroughly French in style. His duet with his newly found father, Monforte, in Act 3, his duets with his beloved Elena, and his taxing solo that opens Act 4 are exemplary.

As the beloved, Jacqueline Brumaire is almost as welcome. Her voice is typically French in colour and lightness without quite sounding ideally youthful. She convinced me that this is undoubtedly the voice for the role, rather than the heavier, Italianate ones usually assigned it today. Neilson Taylor, then a regular broadcasting baritone, sounds adequately French and conveys the agony at his rejection by his rebellious son. The Turkish bass, Ayhan Baran, has a suitably sonorous voice for the rebel Sicilian leader Procida and uses it to magnificent effect, even when his French is rather approximate. The minor roles are filled by British stalwarts of the time: it was a special pleasure to hear again the appealing baritone of the late Michael Rippon.

The sound is amazingly full-bodied, but it is a shame the producer did not allow the soloists a more forward placing. The lavish booklet is well up to the standards of Opera Rara issues but fails to give us a single word or photo about the singers, which is a bit unfair to them. As a whole, though, this is an issue to warm the hearts of all keen Verdians.