Gluck, Christoph Willibald: Iphigenie en Tauride

Iphigenie en Tauride  by Christoph Willibald Gluck
Cast:Diana Montague, Thomas Allen, John Aler, Rene Massis, Nancy Argenta, Sophie Boulin, Colette Alliot-Lugaz, Danielle Borst & Rene Schirrer with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre de l'Opera de Lyon, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner.
Libretto by Nicolas-Francois Guiilard (after Racine)
Label: Philips
Catalogue number: 416 148-1
Country of Issue: UK
Date: 1985
Stereo
Digital
Format: LP Boxed Set (2 discs plus booklet)
Label design: latest  Philps Digital, silver/maroon
Discs: Near Mint, unmarked.
Outer box: EX+. perfect but for minor scuffs on outer box (much less noticeable than in the photos!)
Inner sleeves: original, polylined, as new
Booklet: full size 44pp, perfect.  Full libretto in French, English and German and comprehensive notes and artist bios.

This item appears as new throughout except as mentioned above. Acquired by us in 2007 as part of a large collection but never played since.

The opera was Gluck's finest in his reform of the French tragedie lyrique style. It was first performed in Paris on May 18, 1779 and was a triumph from the start.  Many alterations were made by others for stagings in the late 18th and throughout the 19th centuries,  but the original was restored in the Croll edition of 1973 and this recording is of that latest and most authentic score.