It occurred to me that it might be of interest to readers to refer them to John Culshaw's book 'Putting the record straight', in which he tells the story of this Romeo recording. Originally it should have been Gounod's Faust and not Romeo which was to be recorded, but nobody had notified the publisher and when they finally did so, it was too late (and too expensive). Instead, the publisher offered them better rates for Romeo, which nobody knew very well, if at all, including Alberto Erede, but they decided to do it anyway. Erede, by the way, was actually more interested in this sort of French repertoire than most people (Virgil Thomson said that he played the verismo operas at the Met as if they were oratorios by Gounod or Saint-Saens!) so it should have been a good choice, but perhaps the change from Faust to Romeo at the last minute was a let-down for everybody concerned.