Mercadante

Didone abbandonata (DVD) Viktorija Mi k nait , Katrin Wundsam, Carlo Vincenzo Allemano, Pietro Di Bianco, Diego Godoy, Emelie Renard; Academia Montis Regalis; Coro Maghini/alessandro De Marchi; dir. Jurgen Flimm (Innsbruck 2018) Naxos DVD: 2.110630;

Blu-ray: NBD0095V 146 mins

Major opera companies tend to avoid the works of Saverio Mercadante (1795-1870), but he’s an important figure alongside the better-known names of contemporaries such as Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and Verdi, and specialist festivals are looking at him more and more. This production represents his first appearance at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, where in Jürgen Flimm’s 2018 production he’s given the full periodinstrument treatment courtesy of the Academia Montis Regalis under Alessandro De Marchi.

Mercadante enjoyed a long career, and this is an early work, produced in Turin in 1823. There’s some clear influence of Rossini, especially in the overture, which offers alternately punchy and delectable period sounds, though intonation can be a problem and definition is not always sufficiently sharp:

De Marchi nevertheless proves a vital conductor. Yet whether the composer’s style is individual or generic, he’s unquestionably an accomplished exponent of the bel canto manner and anyone interested in this period of Italian opera should certainly investigate this release.

The libretto is an ancient one by Metastasio (1724) reworked a century later by Andrea Leone Tottola. The theme is the standard one of Dido and Aeneas – the latter role taken by a mezzo-soprano (the striking Katrin Wundsam); but as with all versions this one has its own variants, and here the Carthaginians’ neighbouring King Jarba (ebullient tenor Carlo Vincenzo Allemano) has a decisive and anything but benign role in proceedings. The tragic heroine – to whom, of course, go the honours of the powerful final scene – is explored with a blend of facility and expressivity by Lithuanian soprano Viktorija Mi k nait .

Flimm’s production mixes periods liberally, and though sometimes its ironic tone gets in the way, the story is effectively told and one becomes increasingly gripped: unfortunately there’s a technical fault, and picture and sound are sometimes out of synch. George Hall

PERFORMANCE ★★★★

PICTURE & SOUND ★★★