Yet another DVD of L’incoronazione di Poppea, and the second within a few years to be conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm. Glyndebourne’s 2008 production by Robert Carsen (Decca) with Danielle de Niese, Alice Coote and Iestyn Davies featured the OAE in the pit. This 2012 Lille production features Haïm’s own band Le Concert d’Astrée and is staged intelligently by Jean-François Sivadier. A stark black and grey set inhabited by the entire company in modern dress (Prologue) gradually evolves into a boldly colourful ‘Roman’ world (lots of red, orange and gold) in which people act and look approximately like ancient Romans – but with small splashes of modern-day props for some sort of ironic effect. The production engagingly illustrates the amoral drama of lust, betrayal and the pursuit of power.

The only member of the Glyndebourne cast featured here is soprano Sonya Yoncheva, who is upgraded from Fortune to a cynically seductive Poppea. Max Emanuel Cencic has the range to bash out Nerone’s highest notes, and the occasional histrionic high passages and over-the-top delivery suit Nerone’s brattish character. Ann Hallenberg’s jilted Ottavia and Tim Mead’s Ottone (each by turns jealous, desperate and broken) are vocally and dramatically outstanding. Paul Whelan’s husky singing is well suited to the doomed Seneca.

I am less satisfied by Haïm’s musical direction. There are thwacks, bangs, clatters and tinkles every time the score reaches a rhythmical passage. Floridly over-egged string parts are seldom left alone in ritornellos without being doubled or replaced by fanciful instrumentation (cornettos and recorders are commonplace instead of Monteverdi’s basic string band). Much of the performance practice seems designed to draw attention to the orchestra pit at the expense of the singers. Those averse to early music purism might admire Haïm’s ostentatiously upholstered textures and anachronistic methods but in truth this musical aesthetic is a post-1970s modern construct, just like Sivadier’s stage action.