Fromental Halévy (1799-1862), was once remembered for La Juive, an underrated gem championed by Caruso and adored by Mahler. In his own day he had a few other hits, including the grand, five-act La Reine de Chypre, a work admired by Wagner. It here receives its premiere recording, albeit in a slightly pruned version that strangely omits the offstage Gondolier’s song, one of the score’s noted hits.

Sharing subject matter with Donizetti’s Caterina Cornaro, it tells of the Italian noblewoman married off to the Lusignan King of Cyprus at the bidding of the dastardly Venetian Council of Ten. A former lover, political machinations and a slow poisoning add to a torrid tale well worth the...