Rossini wrote Elizabeth, Queen of England for the star-studded San Carlo Opera in Naples in 1815. The plot is a verse reduction of a halfremembered drama by an Italian advocate out of an entertaining but historically implausible English romance. Larmore makes a formidable Elizabeth; beautifully sung, her performance has presence, character, and a real sense of ingrained authority. The lovely cantabile duet for Elizabeth and Matilde at the start of Act 2 is sung to perfection by Caballé and Masterson on Philips' rival set but there's a greater depth of emotion, a grainier, gutsier feel to Larmore's performance with Majella Cullagh's equally characterful, if not at every point inch-perfect, Matilde. There's little to choose between Bruce Ford's Leicester and Carreras's for Philips – Carreras perhaps wins on points with a certain added youthful allure – but Opera Rara's Antonio Siragusa is a more compelling Norfolk than Ugo Benelli, who sings splendidly but without much menace.
Siragusa is very fine. With such strong casting, it goes without saying that the great confrontations in the opera – Elizabeth and Norfolk, Leicester and Norfolk, and so on – all come vividly to life. The Opera Rara performance has a lovely rich, dark feel to it. This is partly to do with Carella's conducting and the London Philharmonic's playing; partly to do with the fact that orchestration is clearly different in places.
For first-time buyers, this is the set to go for.

Marvellous ensembles beautifully performed on Opera Rara by a strong cast led by Jennifer Larmore