HALEVY: “La Juive.” Julia Varady, June Anderson,...

HALEVY: “La Juive.” Julia Varady, June Anderson, Jose Carreras, Ferruccio Furlanetto; Ambrosian Opera Chorus; Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Antonio de Almeida. Philips 420 190-2 (three compact discs). Sooner or later, Halevy’s 1835 grand opera had to come to commercial disc, even, as here, in a somewhat cut version (which still runs over three hours). Passages of eloquent grandeur jostle with empty rhetoric for the attention as Scribe’s libretto glazes the important subject of 15th-Century religious intolerance with a frosting of purest melodrama. Although Berlioz admired Halevy’s orchestration, one comes away convinced that virtually every note is there for effect. Still, Halevy provided ripe opportunities for vocal display; they have been seized by Carreras’ Eleazar, delivered with fervor and tenorial finesse; by Varady’s poignant Rachel and by Anderson’s glittering Princess Eudoxie. Almeida conducts with conviction and authority, virtues accomplished not easily in this work. Philips’ sound is everything it should be.