[Rebeka’s] Luisa take a while to hit her stride…Yet she grows in stature as the drama goes on…She rides the waves of ‘Tu puniscimi, o Signore’ and the aria’s fiery cabaletta ‘A brani, a brani’ with blazing conviction…the rest of the cast is strong. Ivan Magrì reportedly took lessons from Luciano Pavarotti, and there’s something of Pav’s open-throated sound in the young tenor’s ringing tone and winning ardour.

led by the Croatian conductor Ivan Repušić with a combination of detailed observation and a rewarding sense of musico-dramatic engagement. The Münchner Rundfunkorchester's impeccable playing is underpinned by a rich palette of sonorities. The chorus shapes its part beautifully. To the title role Marina Rebeka brings a strong vocal personality and a technique sufficiently wide-ranging to cover all the part's requirements, from a delicate filigree to passionately inflected lyrical line; her understanding of the place of each word and note in the overall scheme is admirable.

[Rebeka] She possesses limpid tone, fleet coloratura and vocal steel when required. One perhaps would only like a touch more character, which hopefully will come if she gets the opportunity to perform the role onstage. Much the same could be said of conductor Ivan Repušić, who is meticulous in shading the music perhaps at the expense of some judicious splashes of vulgarity. Ivan Magrì brings some Italian warmth as Rodolfo, making an unusual but appropriate reverie of ‘Quando le sere al placido’, and George Petean brings noble tone and paternal concern to Miller. It’s good to hear two young basses, Ante Jerkunica and Marko Mimica, make such successes of Wurm and Walter respectively.