Top marks go to conductor and director for giving the music space to breathe. The vocal cast is almost uniformly brilliant. The tension between unbridled feeling and duty's constraints - a tension that obsessed 18th-century audiences - simmers throughout, energising the extemporisation through which the singers develop character. Dell'Oste is in a class of her own: she turns coloratura into eloquent, heart-rending declarations

The stage action is pleasingly literal, sensible and unpretentious; Garcia allows the performers and audience enough mental space to concentrate fully on the rhetorical power of the soliloquy convention, without any ill-conceived attempt to subvert Metastasio's language and action into something sexy and postmodern...This is an exceptionally fine production that offers a great deal of integrity and fascination.

This is the most impressive and engaging product of Pergolesi's anniversary year I've heard so far...[Annamaria dell'Oste] is more dramatically aware and dignified than simply dazzling: she never once plays to the gallery, or drops out of character...The orchestral playing is exceptionally fine, with the very tight ensemble vividly captured by the microphones.

Dantone's young soloists, relatively unknown, burn with conviction and sing superbly...In fact, every aspect of this enthralling production is close to exemplary.