Christophe Rousset, who has prepared the performing edition and has provided an excellent booklet essay, offers a vital and stylish account of this engaging, fast-moving drama. Rousset's strong cast responds sympathetically to the music. Consistently secure and internally well-balanced support by Les Talens Lyriques set the seal on a hugely enjoyable studio production.

Mozart's affectionate quotation from Martín y Soler's Una cosa rara in the Don Giovanni dinner music suggests he admired his Spanish contemporary, whose music was praised by others as 'sweet' and 'graceful'. Such descriptions remain apt for a charming and brilliantly executed performance that's essential for anybody curious about late 18th-century opera beyond Mozart.
The best operas of his later years were produced in London. La capricciosa corretta was first performed at the King's Theatre in 1795 under the title La scuola dei maritati; Its plot concerns the marriage of an older man to a young second wife whose excessive vanity and capriciousness makes life miserable for everybody else.
The libretto was by Lorenzo da Ponte. There are illuminating musical and dramatic parallels with, most notably, Così fan tutte and Le nozze diFigaro. 'Se figli vi siamo' is a gorgeous lyrical quintet, graced with sensitive woodwind colour, that wouldn't be out of place in Così. 'Qui vive, e respira' is a tender tenor aria in which Lelio softly enthuses about the woman he loves: it's a striking counterpart of Ferrando's 'Un' aura amorosa'. Valerio's mock-martial aria 'Un fucil, un spadon' is an intriguing close descendant of Figaro's 'Non più andrai', with a lightly scored military accompaniment illustrating a text about taking up a post in the army.
Individual personalities aren't portrayed to quite such memorable effect as in Mozart, of course, but there's plenty of distinctive music to overcome the inevitable comparisons.
Christophe Rousset's cast of relative unknowns deliver a competent and committed team performance.
Les Talens Lyriques savour the music with their customary zest and astute musical intelligence.