'As every singer and lover of French opera knows, editions of even the best-known French operatic arias are difficult – and sometimes expensive – to obtain. Roger Nichols' scrupulously balanced selection of 19th-century French arias provides the perfect starting point for widerexploration. Nichols, who has championed French music in his writings, talks and radiobroadcasts over three decades with eloquence and scholarship, is the ideal guide to this repertoire which, even today, is often neglected, misunderstood or inadequately performed.