These extracts, although the notes do not make this clear, come from a concert at Covent Garden in 1957. The original tape comes from the library of Lord Harewood. In themselves the extracts from The Magic Flute and The Mastersingers are not very satisfactory, but they do give us a glimpse of the achievement of the then-resident company at the Royal Opera House, performing in the vernacular under its much-loved music director of the day, Rafael Kubelík.

The most important items are those from the Wagner. Sutherland had at the time been heard in the house as Eva; in those days she was a lirico-spinto soprano and very good one, too, as her account of ‘O Sachs, mein Freund’ and the opening of the Quintet, both from Act 3, confirm. Vickers never sang Walther anywhere. That is a major loss if we are to judge from his fresh and trumpet-like outburst at the ecstatic climax of the Trial Song (not Prize Song as listed in the booklet) as he catches sight of Eva in Sachs’s study. His clear line also adorns the Quintet.

James Pease, the American baritone who was the company’s Sachs at the time, offers a worldly wise account of Sachs’s Act 3 monologue, while Kubelík and the orchestra launch the extracts with a warm reading of the Act 3 Prelude. In all these, the sound is muffled with some distortion on the voices.

The Mozart excerpts start with the Overture followed by the Act 2 scene with the Armed Men, of whom Vickers is the sturdy No 1. It is pleasant to become reacquainted with the well-remembered Pamina and Tamino of Sutherland and the lyrical John Lanigan. And that’s it as far as Covent Garden is concerned.

The short measure is marginally increased by the reissue from a Belcantodisc 45rpm of Sutherland singing some rare bel canto pieces with clear, bright tone and pinpoint accuracy but little character. It is useful to have these on CD. The notes are wrong in saying this has never been reissued and is thus an extreme rarity; it once appeared on a generally available LP.