L’equivoco stravagante was Rossini’s second opera for the professional stage‚ a two­act dramma giocoso first seen in Bologna in October 1811 when he was 19. In terms of length‚ textual sophistication and structural invention‚ it was a significant advance on his début opera La cambiale di matrimonio (Venice‚ 1810). Unluckily‚ it fell foul of the censors‚ and vanished from the repertory‚ though not out of existence. The autograph manuscript is lost (Rossini cannibalised parts of the opera for other projects) but the score survives in a sufficient number of contemporary sources to make revival possible. The first modern revival took place in Siena in 1965. The present recording – a most welcome addition to the Rossini discography – is taken from performances at the 2001 Rossini in Wildbad Festival using a new performing edition by Marco Beghelli and Stefano Piana. Veteran Rossinian‚ Alberto Zedda‚ conducts with verve and style‚ the playing is polished‚ the singing generally accomplished. The opera was censored on grounds of bad taste. When‚ in Act 2‚ an enterprising servant determines to rescue the bold‚ beautiful and bookish Ernestina from the clutches of the dim and boorish Buralicchio‚ he puts it about that Ernestina is a boy: a castrato who has failed to make the big time musically. This was not liked by the censor. Nor was the generally subversive air of Gasbarri’s libretto with its parodies of Metastasio and sneering send­ups of the pretensions of ‘new money’. Rossini’s music also has a subversive feel to it. The duet in Act 1 between Ernestina’s father and his would­be son­in­law is a fine piece of musical burlesque‚ full of absurd syllabic stutterings‚ with fanfaring obbligato horns. The Act 2 Quintet in which Ernestina is arrested by the military has a stretta worthy of Offenbach though once the military has been introduced in the plot (which happens at the splendid Act 1 finale) there is a certain sinister edge to the comedy which looks forward beyond La pietra del paragone (Rossini’s next dramma giocoso) to La gazza ladra. Unusually for Rossini‚ the tenor has pride of place alongside the leading lady. The Ernestina here‚ Maria Marcolini’s role originally‚ is the Bulgarian mezzo­soprano Petja Petrova who makes much of the character. Her concluding Scena e Rondo – Ernestina disguised as a soldier the better to effect her escape from prison (a favourite Marcolini persona) – is vividly done. The Argentinean tenor Dario Schmunck also acquits himself well. Since winning the Franco Corelli Singing Competition in Ancona‚ he has made something of a name for himself in Vienna and one can hear why. As befits a live theatre performance‚ the drama is well ‘played’ by the cast. Petrova and her Buralicchio‚ Marco Vinco‚ are particularly effective in the Act 2 duet in which Buralicchio begins to probe his fiancé’s sexual status. The microphones are not quite as kind to the Gamberotto‚ Marco di Felice. The voice lacks mobility and there is often an egregious buzz at the top but by and large the performance is accurately and vividly caught. There is rather a lot of applause‚ irksome on the ear and tending to hold up the flow of the music. I could certainly have done without the 20 seconds of tepid applause before the overture. (The original overture is not‚ alas‚ extant. The 1851 Ricordi edition printed the overture we now know as Il barbiere di Siviglia. The present edition calls on the services of the overture to La cambiale di matrimonio.) The set comes with useful notes and the Italian text. There is no English translation but a rudimentary track­by­track synopsis does the job almost as well.