Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck (1982)

British mezzo-soprano, Dame Janet Baker, chose to retire from the operatic stage singing the title role in Sir Peter Hall's acclaimed production of Orfeo ed Euridise. This 1982 recording from Glyndebourne, where Dame Janet appropriately began her professional career, proved a suitable crowning glory to the career of one of the great sinding actresses of our age. Dame Janet's realisation of Orfeo, the greving musician from Greek mythology, who follows his beloved wife Euridise to the depths of Hades in an attempt to bring her back from the dead, is totally convincing - "... one of her finest and most moving portrayals". Tv Times.