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Meili Li as Licida (centre) with the Irish Baroque Orchestra in L'Olimpiade | Photo: Ros Kavanagh

And the moral of the story is: don’t cheat at the Olympics (or, perhaps, at any sporting contest). A good deal of unnecessary trouble is caused when one Licida, an unathletic type, calls in a favour from his sporty pal Megacle, persuading him to take part under Licida’s name – because the gold medal comes along with the mega-hot Aristea. The problem being of course that Aristea is Megacle’s inamorata, though Licida doesn’t seem to know this.

That’s not all. Licida has also conveniently 'forgotten' his own beloved Argene, who wanders around forlornly. This moderately intricate situation takes a while to work out, and at the end it turns out that Licida and Aristea are actually long-lost twins, so that’s another sweaty situation averted.

You can probably tell that this is a Metastasio script: this brilliant writer manages to string the thing out over an arc of increasing emotional intensity for three hours, as soliloquy arias and duets explore the refinements of each character’s troubles and dilemmas. The characters never actually become human, but they get a lot of human moments, and Vivaldi dances them along on a stream of generally vivacious arias, never hard to listen to.

It’s amazing, in fact, how much variety can be found within those over-familiar mannerisms of thrumming textures, driving, jaunty rhythms, cascades of flashy violin figures, rising harmonic sequences and Vivaldi’s undying devotion to the perfect cadence. Peter Whelan, conductor of the energetic and stylish Irish Baroque Orchestra, mined the accompaniments – often more dramatic than the vocal lines of the arias – and the welcome orchestral episodes for all their depth and differences, from whispering violin figures to twangling slow tunes (Pablo Fitzgerald on the soulful lute) to those irresistible, boisterous onward-hammering rhythms, driven along by Whelan’s harpsichord and the bouncy, infectious bass playing of Rosie Moon.

Rachel Redmond as Aminta (centre), Gemma Ní Bhriain as Megacle, Chuma Sijeqa as Clistene, Sarah Richmond as Argene, Alexandra Urquiola as Aristea, Seán Boylan as Alcandro and Meili Li as Licida in L’Olimpiade

On stage, the cast of seven pretty soon let us know who they were, with their initialled tops a handy guide. As well as the two couples there is a standard, forthright overbearing dad figure (Chuma Sijega), a consigliere (Seán Boylan, making the most of a marginal character), and a 'tutor', sung with a beautiful radiance and the most likeable air by Rachel Redmond. Gemma Ní Bhriain was too unwell to sing but walked the part of Megacle, while Maria Schellenberg (née Ostroukhova) sang from the pit.

I remember this lovely mezzo from her college days, and this was luxury substitution – it’s a challenging role, full of sturdy coloratura, and she was faultless and rich-toned.

The others were also admirable: counter-tenor Meili Li as Licida (best in the loving ‘Mentre dormi’, where his nice even tone was displayed to best advantage), the dependably elegant Sarah Richmond as Argene – but this music needs someone to take it to the next level, and it was Alexandra Urquiola’s Aristea who did that, unafraid to curdle the voice a bit to introduce some rage and passion, and producing a very vivid performance. There are some great arias among the fairly humdrum here – and duets too – but Vivaldi never really hits the vocal payoff that Handel does, and so the emotional level, for my money, never reaches proper operatic levels.

Daisy Evans directed the one-to-one action very well – and there’s a lot of it, plus acres of recit to be made interesting or at least bearable. But it’s a long time to be looking at a bare stage – however nicely designed and lit by Molly O’Cathain and Jake Wilshire – for the best part of three hours, without a lot of stage action, and the movement became a bit repetitive. Good team effort, though, and all above board and sportsmanlike.

At Linbury until May 25 | roh.org.uk