Joan Font

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This is an excellent version of one of the greatest of all comic operas, featuring superb singing and orchestral playing. And it's not just the two headliners; listen, for example, to the entrance of the stepsisters at the beginning of Act One. Nevertheless, some viewers may find the staging problematic, with singers in clown-like costumes and sets featuring human-sized rodents. Those seeking a more conventional production might want to consider the Houston Grand Opera DVD, also on Decca, with Cecilia Bartoli and Raul Jimenez. Both sets are wonderful, but, for me, Joyce Didonato and Juan Diego Florez are slightly to be preferred. Highly recommended.

A removals company discovers a room full of curiosities among them a book of Cendrillon. What better way for a group of friends to pass the time than to perform this famous fairy tale about Cinderella and the glass slipper? Pauline Viardot’s comic opera in three tableaux from 1904 is seeped in joie de vivre, reflecting the influences of her entourage. As a singer and composer, Viardot was at the heart of artistic life in Paris in the second half of the 19th century, and counted George Sand, Chopin, Gounod, Berlioz, Donizetti among her friends and admirers.