Jacob's strongest players are the superb Idamante of Bernarda Fink: tender, ardent and in touch with every nerve-ending of every beautifully shaped phrase. Alexandrina Pendatchanska, from her blazing top register to the dark depths of her voice, is a thrilling Elettra.

…there is no denying the intense theatrical charge of Jacobs's performance. He chooses mobile, natural-sounding tempi… The chorus… are as involved and incisive as Gardiner's Monteverdi Choir in the glorious music Mozart allots them, while the superb Freiburg Baroque Orchestra relish what David Cairns dubs the opera's "proto-Romantic exploitation of orchestral colour". Jacobs, like Gardiner and Mackerras, is unerringly responsive to the ways Mozart expresses the drama through harmony, rhythm and orchestral texture. ...the role of the tortured king is tricky to cast. Richard Croft is a subtle, sensitive artist, mellifluous of tone, refined of phrase. In plangent beauty of tone and passionate immediacy, Bernarda Fink's Idamante is at least the equal of Anne Sofie von Otter (Gardiner) and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (Mackerras)... this new version, beautifully recorded, at its best eclipses all corners in dramatic tension, not least in the magnificent, anguished account of the great Act 3 quartet.

I always think that if you’re going to record repertoire that already has plenty of very fine recordings, you have to have something new and exciting to say. Well, Jacobs and his fine group of musicians have plenty. From the very opening of the Overture when you hear the vibrant and pungent sound of the Freiburger Barokorchester you know that it is going to be both spirited and exciting. In years past, recitatives in Mozart operas were often considered the boring but necessary bits between arias. Here, they’re very much brought into the dramatic action of the opera and are performed with real conviction and spontaneity. And the outstanding choral singing by the RIAS Kammerchor is surely unparalleled in previous recordings of this work.

However the real stars of the show are the soloists. Many names will be familiar from previous operas in the series with Bernarda Fink’s heroic Idamante, Sunhae Im’s enchanting Ilia and Alexandrina Pendatchanska’s thrilling Elletra all particularly outstanding. For the title role Jacobs brings in the hugely experienced Richard Croft whose rich voice combined with a sensitive and thoughtful account also make a strong impression.

The orchestral playing, choral singing and most of the soloists are first-rate: Bernarda Fink’s ardent Idamante, Alexandrina Pendatchanska’s spitfire Elettra and Richard Croft’s noble Idomeneo rank with the best on disc.

The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra plays wonderfully, and much of the singing is first rate, especially Richard Croft's authoritative Idomeneo, Bernarda Fink's honey-toned Idamante (Jacobs rightly favours the original 1781 version of the score with a mezzo rather than a tenor in that role), and Alexandrina Pendatchanska's haughty Elettra.

Mozart's first great opera has fared well on disc...there are penetrating things here, especially the seriousness with which the recitative is treated, and the interaction of Richard Croft's Idomeneo and Bernarda Fink's ideal Idamante - the great quartet is moving.

The performance has great dramatic vitality throughout, and the sublime Gluckian drama of the third act has seldom sounded more urgent or moving. The playing of the Freiburg Barockorchester is beyond praise, as is

Idomeneo is the American tenor Richard Croft, wading through the moral quagmire with impressively crisp decorative runs.... In the role of the Trojan princess Ilia, Sunhae Im wields a small voice, but she uses it with point and feeling. As for Alexandrina Pendatchanska, if we could tap the rage of her Elettra there’d be no need for nuclear power stations.