Latest CD releases reviewed

VIVALDI: TITO MANLIO
Soloists: Nicola Ulivieri, Karina Gauvin, Ann Hallenberg, Mijanovic, Debora Dantone. Accademia Bizantina. Conductor: Ottavio Dantone Naïve OP30413 *****

These days most of the previously neglected operas by Vivaldi have been made available on CD, and while Tito Manlio was one of the few operas recorded in the LP era, this new release would certainly be the recording of choice now. Premiered in 1719 when Vivaldi was in Mantua, Tito Manlio was written relatively early in his career, and it is a work full of inventive melody with some very moving passages. The Tito here is not the Tito of Mozart's opera, but rather a Roman leader who lived some three centuries before, who had to sentence his son to death. Here it receives a sparkling performance with period instruments and a fine cast of soloists of whom Karina Gauvin as Manlio and Ann Hallenberg as Servilia are particularly outstanding. A fine recording of a scintillating work. www.naive.fr   Colman Morrissey