Lemoyne demonstrates impressive integrity as a musical dramatist…The central performances all stand up to scrutiny. Judith van Wanroij’s Phèdre hones in on the text, its meaning carefully embedded in the composer’s setting…Performances of character and sensitivity are provided by the Hungarian period-instrument orchestra and its attendant choir, while the conductor György Vashegyi maintains musical and dramatic dynamism.

Phèdre is pervaded with what you might call a noble simplicity; and if Lemoyne can’t match Gluck for memorable tunes, he certainly has a gift for intense, declamatory recitative. Other memorable touches include the unexpectedly quiet endings to the first and last acts and the splendour of his orchestration...György Vashegyi’s conducting of the Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra is as gripping and stylish as ever.

Vashegyi and his Hungarian forces have fine form in French 18th-century opera. Here, with a cast equally experienced in the repertoire, he has come up with a performance that does justice to the opera. Vocally the weight falls on the demanding title role...van Wanroij emerges from the test with honour, being particularly successful in Phédre’s more vulnerable and sensitive moments...Behr is a splendid Hippolyte whose precise diction pays real dividends in recitative.