Don Chisciotte is a fast­moving comic opera‚ loosely based on Cervantes’ international best­seller‚ to a libretto by Giovanni Battista Lorenzi‚ a man­of­letters intimately involved in the renewal of Neapolitan opera in the middle years of the 18th century. The text is in an engaging mixture of Neapolitan and Tuscan that is typical of Paisiello’s first operas. Stylistically the music is highly characteristic of his early operatic manner‚ a racy sequence of short episodes‚ with much use of recitative which rarely (but effectively) blossoms into moments of arioso‚ and is for the most part moved forward by an insistent rhythmic drive which projects forward both music and drama for page after page. All the elements of the compositional strategies which were to make the Paisiello one of the most successful operatic composers of his time are here on full display‚ and while the opera is usually considered to be a minor work‚ it emerges here as sparely constructed‚ coherent and telling. Whether or not an opera which is so limited in musical resource‚ and so highly dependent upon comic action on the stage‚ can be realised in a recording‚ is a separate question; strong visual imagination is needed. But the score is easy on the ear‚ and the pre­echoes of Mozart insistent and fascinating. This is a live recording‚ and the intrusion of page­turns‚ stage noises and applause lend a sense of immediacy that does not distract. The orchestra is small‚ with the strings‚ sprightly and clean in execution‚ doing most of the work‚ while the prominent oboes perform a robust (though at times slightly insensitive) task‚ and the horns provide only occasional punctuation. The cast is reasonably strong; Davide Paltretti’s Don Platone imaginatively explores the possibilities of the role‚ and Patrizia Macrelli proves to be sensuously compelling in the lyrical high moment in the Second Act‚ ‘S’è ver‚ che voi mi amate’‚ where Paisiello briefly demonstrates his ability to enter a more emotionally complex world. Sergio Rocchi sometimes misses the chances inherent in writing of considerable dramatic range‚ opting to fall back upon a somewhat undifferentiated bel canto approach. The hero of the performance is Maurizio Leoni‚ who has much of the best comic music‚ and exploits its theatrical opportunities to the full. Valentino Metti directs the proceedings with efficiency and verve‚ and while the result is hardly going to establish Don Chisciotte as an undiscovered masterpiece‚ it is a convincing account of an amusing curiosity.