[1] The album was recorded using analogue technology in August 1977 and July 1978 in the National Arts Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.,[1] following a performance of some of its programme by von Stade, Taylor, the NAC Orchestra and Bernardi on the last evening of the 1977 Festival Canada.

Readers who were regular visitors to Glyndebourne, he wrote, would already be familiar with Frederica von Stade's portrayal of Penelope, the lonely, sorrowing queen of Ithaca in Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria.

Monteverdi's genius, von Stade's artistry and the able support of Janice Taylor as Ericlea combined to paint a picture that captured the very essence of romantic devotion, even if the music was performed in the "fanciful" edition confected by Raymond Leppard.

"È destin" from La Bohème - Leoncavallo's little known setting of the story, not the famous Puccini version - concluded the recital with a venture into a territory peripheral to von Stade's repertoire, nineteenth-century verismo.

In 2012, Newton Classics issued the album on CD with a 16-page biographical booklet by David Patrick Stearns in their 4-CD collection Frederica von Stade: Duets, Arias, Scenes & Songs (catalogue number 8802125).