This vivid recording of the first-ever great opera has been around for a while as a DVD from Barcelona in 2002, but this is its first sound-only issue on CD. You may miss the period costumes in the orchestra (pictures in the booklet), but Jordi Savall’s performance is bold and full-bodied, especially in the warm choral singing and orchestral playing. The soloists are more variable, often placed far back in the sonic picture. So although it is touching to hear the late Montserrat Figueras again as Musica, and Furio Zanasi’s plucky Orfeo, the finest singing is from Sara Mingardo as a plangent Messenger. Still, the work blossoms towards its unbearably moving end.
