Cullagh as usual sings with aplomb, stately grace, and all other good things. Clarke is a tenor delight, as is Caddy. Lee rounds out the cast with mezzo wit and style. The Irish group under O’Duinn are a winning accompaniment. © 2012 American Record Guide Read complete review on American Record Guide online

most of the cast is pretty darn good, especially the marvelous Irish soprano Majella Cullagh in the title role. Cullagh has it all: an extraordinarily pretty and distinctive timbre, great pitch, excellent voice placement from top to bottom, a real trill, and wonder of wonders, good diction… Mezzo Lynda Lee, in the trouser role of Lazzarillo, also has a fine voice. The baritones and basses are interchangeable in sound, a typical midrange-only sort of generic British baritone quality that they all have.

All of this is well served here by the Irish forces.  Singing with sweet tone and clear enunciation, Majella Cullagh is outstanding. © 2012 Opera

There’s some fine conducting from the RTÉ Concert Orchestra’s long-serving Principal Conductor…Proinnsías Ó Duinn. Well-chosen, highly singable tempi, infectious rhythms, relish of orchestral colour and warm but not over-indulgent handling of the ballad numbers.

Best are the ladies. Majella Cullagh actually has a very beautiful voice, a slightly reedy timbre reminiscent of the young Gwyneth Jones. She certainly has agility in the odd moments where it’s called for and her top notes are easy—right up to a high E flat at the end that might be envied by, well, certain Violettas.

Lynda Lee certainly displays a rich, evenly controlled timbre and a good sense of line.

The music is effortlessly tuneful…The Overture is a fine piece and evokes the spirit of Weber…

[Majella Cullagh’s] light lyric soprano is just perfect for the role and her diction is as clear as Waterford crystal…There is a lovely prayer duet with Lazarillo, a mezzo trouser role, towards the end of the opera, ‘Sainted Mother, guide his footsteps’, which Cullagh sings with great purity…Lynda Lee [is] reliable. Quentin Hayes…sings with a firm tone.

The finales to Acts 1 and 2 are pleasantly effective…this reissue is worth exploring… © 2012 International Record Review