Gounod: Siébel's Romance (Si le bonheur à sourire t'invite) Faust

"Who would have thought that Offenbach's Robinson Crusoe had such a glorious waltz song as the first item in this brilliant collection of twenty French arias? A coloratura bombshell ... the lyrical numbers cover a wide range, and it is good to hear the expansion of Sutherland's voice in such an aria as Louise's "Depuis le jour". It is good too to have favourites like that put among the many rarities ... as well as the Robinson Crusoe aria you have a stunning Auber song rather like French-styled Gilbert and Sillivan, astonishingly enough a laughing song for the heroine from his setting of Manon Lescaut. I also enjoyed enormously the rather vulgar Boléro of Lecocq ... good accompaniment and outstanding recording quality. It is good that Sutherland and her husband are prepared to use personal popularity in promoting music that would otherwise be buried ... these treasure are not all diamonds musically, but they certainly sparkle."Gramophone