Elder and the LSO bring unerring musical conviction to a performance recorded at the Aix Festival in 2023...Elizabeth De Shong's Fidès, the Prophet's abandoned mother, is something else...This is a voice that without the libretto’s promise of high explosives could destroy Münster Palace in the final scene singlehandedly!

Elder imbues the highly influential score with both fastidious bel canto delicacy and a rock-solid grip of the set pieces...The LSO play with panache throughout.

On every count, it’s difficult to imagine this weird and wonderful score sounding better. Mark Elder clearly adores the piece and has the full measure of its rather lopsided Gothic architecture. All three principals meet Meyerbeer’s fearsome demands with near-total security, but the real marvel is the way they get right under the skin of these psychologically complex characters. Competition may not exactly be stiff, but this surely must be the new reference recording.

As an advocate for an opera you did not know you needed to hear, Elder is unrivalled…It’s decidedly a curiosity, but here given a breathless ride to its dramatic conclusion.

Mark Elder and the London Symphony Orchestra bring great panache to a pick-and-mix score — Elder finding bel canto delicacy in more intimate passages while having a rock-solid grip of the set pieces. The highlight is a coronation scene at which Meyerbeer threw everything bar the kitchen sink.

The passion seeps out of the score...Elder's control is evident throughout the emotional rollercoaster, with the LSO responding dazzlingly to his command. Nothing wears off, and the well-known Marche du sacre is lovely as it opens CD 3. There is a fantastic cast of assembled singers, including John Osborn, brilliant as John of Leyden, and Elizabeth DeShong, superb as his mother. What vocal agility and resonance!