Florez has a marvellous open-throated voice. Everything he sings, he sings clearly and purely. Whilst none of these arias and scenes require much vocal acting he does differentiate between them, adjusting dynamics well. He even manages to sing Bellini tastefully, - and I thought it could never be done!

The title aria, "Un furtiva lagrima" is beautifully sung as is the wonderful "Povera Ernesto" which has the marvellous trumpet tune that inspired the Godfather theme. The "A te, o cara" quartet is from Puritani is another highlight, with Nikola Mijailovic adding a rapt soprano contribution.

Most of the rest of the music is the usual bel canto twaddle, passages of high drama contrasted immediately with the banal operetta style "dum de dum de dum, ha ha" which characterises so much Bellini and Donizetti. Flores sings it all with effortless ease, with taste and without a hint of strain. The final notes from Daughter of the Regiment are not only triumphant but are a triumph.

The recording was made in Milan. There's no sign in the booklet notes of any part having been recorded live in Vienna, as the SACD-info site entry says, but the acoustic for the scene from Capulets and Montacutes does sound a little different to the rest, so who knows? It?s a pretty good recording, 24 bit 96 kHz rather than the 24/48 of Decca's previous opera excerpts discs with Fleming and Bartoli. Strings and solo instruments, like the above-mentioned trumpet, are very well treated and are clearly recorded on stage in a good hall. The brass and percussion don't get such good treatment however, often sounding like off-stage afterthoughts. The fact that so much bel canto orchestral accompaniment is written to sound like nothing so much as a circus band could account for some of that sound, but not all, so a star lost there.

The surround mix is clear and unquestionably adds a feeling of presence and depth to everything (compared to the 2 channel) including some very nice string cadences and decays. I can't say that it adds to the focus a great deal as the recording is already very well focussed in stereo.