Marijana Mijanovic is impressive, with a full, flexible bottom-end to the range that puts plenty of counter-tenors to shame...she's able to knock out the more virtuosic arias with impressive fire. As Cleopatra, Magdalena Kožená is superb, with real beauty of tone and impressive ornamentation, never over-sentimentalising her romantic moments.

As established in the Overture, Minkowski prefers speeds on the fast side, sometimes very fast, with playing clear and clipped...[Kozena's] is a commanding performance, deeply moving in her big lyrical numbers, V'adoro and Piangero, for which Minkowksi allows full warmth and tenderness at aptly spacious speeds. Marijana Mijanovic sings powerfully in the title-role

There are so many fine Cesares on CD, but of the recent crop I return most often to Marc Minkowski's 2002 recording, with a young Magdalena Kožená crossing over into soprano territory most effectively as Cleopatra, and Anne Sofie von Otter and Charlotte Hellekant superb as the bereaved Sesto and Cornelia.

On René Jacobs’s recording Barbara Schlick is bright and nimble. But for seductiveness and subtlety she is outclassed in this “live” 2002 recording from Vienna by Magdalena Kožená, who catches all the enchantment of the glorious “Parnassus” tableau. Kožená brings tragic intensity to her great laments “Per pietà” and “Piangerò”, using ornamentation to heighten the expression when the opening music returns.