CD Reviews

To the Royal Opera House on Saturday to see the final performance of their new production of Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride. This was the first performance of the opera there since 1973. In 1973, the last revival of their previous production, the title role was sung by Sena Jurinac and the conductor was John Eliot Gardiner - a confluence of talent which you would not quite have expected.

The new production was a co-production between Covent Garden, Chicago and San Francisco. In each city, the title role was sung by Susan Graham. In London the band was the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment playing on original instruments. Did they use period bands in Chicago and San Francisco, or did Graham have to re-learn the role at a different pitch for London?