Bizet The Pearl Fishers - highlights (sung in English) Simon Keenlyside bar Zurga Barry Banks ten Nadir Rebecca Evans sop Lella Alastair Miles bass Nourabad Geoffrey Mitchell Choir; London Philharmonic Orchestra / Brad Cohen Chandos/Peter Moores Foundation Opera in English CHAN3156 (79' • DDD • S/TIN) English Fishers may lack charm but you do get two temple duets

The Pearl Fishers belongs to that select group of operas, not that often performed, from which there is nevertheless one number known to everyone. Here, of course, it is the tenor-baritone duet "Au fond du temple saint", which comes near the beginning of the action (in David Parry's translation this becomes "Then from the holy shrine"). As conductor Brad Cohen writes in his note, the theme it introduces is so over-used that by the end of the evening many ears will be "well and truly tired of it". As Cohen suggests, Bizet's original version of the duet is more effective: this does not end with a reiteration of the big tune but with a vigorous and rather old-fashioned cabaletta. Just for good measure, both versions are here, the posthumously arranged, betterknown one added in an appendix. This means the disc ends with the famous tune, rather than one of the several different finales that exist.

The harder English consonants deprive some of the big moments of their mysterious charm. Barry Banks sings "Zurga when we two are old and grey", which teeters on the edge of parody, so it comes as a relief once he and Simon

Keenlyside get going on their big tune. Rebecca Evans makes rather demure Lella, and sings sweetly "Comme autrefois", or "I am alone in the night". Another intriguing item in the appendix is a trio, attributed to Benjamin Godard, that offers yet another variation on the A-loves-B, B-loves-C situation. Good sound; the LPO plays all the famous melodies effectively. Patrick O'Connor