Some of Bartoli’s best singing comes in [the Myslivecek]. Elsewhere there are passages where her characteristic commitment to textual expression becomes overvehement...Yet much of her more delicate singing combines beauty of tone with expressiveness...the orchestral accompaniments are beautifully managed under Muhai Tang.

By 2013 Bartoli’s middle register had grown darker and more opaque. But her dramatic flair, her unerring gift of locating the music’s nerve ends, are as vivid as ever.

Although the album runs to just sixty minutes, it’s a pretty intense listen (even fully paid-up Bartoli acolytes may prefer to consume it across several sittings rather than gulping it down whole), but I’m so glad that these recordings have belatedly seen the light of day – they show the Roman mezzo at the very top of her considerable game.