Here is a dilemma. Is the presence of Anna Netrebko and Plácido Domingo enough to justify a purchase, or does Philipp Stölzl’s childish production rule this DVD out of court? In the latest of her big Verdi soprano roles, Netrebko gives a completely authoritative performance. Although her shaping of Verdi’s vocal lines is not especially individual, she has voice to spare and nothing sounds beyond her – not the Act 1 cabaletta (both verses, skilfully negotiated), not the confrontation with the Conte di Luna (pulsating with drama and desperation), and certainly not her super-confident ‘D’amor sull’ali rosee’, crowned with high-class floated top notes. At this stage of his career Domingo is less well suited to the Conte di Luna than Verdi’s ‘older’ baritone roles, such as Simon Boccanegra and Giorgio Germont. He sounds rather tired at the start but his still majestic tenor-baritone, boosted by an undimmed ability to command the stage, comes good by the end.

Stölzl’s production is set in one corner of a white box, occasionally varied by projections on to the side walls but those are mostly too faint to make an effect on DVD. It seems that Stölzl sees Il trovatore as a crazed successor to the Italian commedia dell’arte tradition: Manrico is clearly Scaramouche, Azucena a china-doll mad lady, and the chorus jerk about like puppets. The challenge of Il trovatore is surely to get a potentially ludicrous opera to be taken seriously by a 21st-century audience. Stölzl is looking down the wrong end of the telescope.

The rest of the cast acquit themselves adequately. Gaston Rivero, the Manrico, does not possess the most ingratiating of tenor voices, primarily because of his heavy fast vibrato, but he has all the notes. Marina Prudenskaya, an Azucena of more soprano ish timbre than most, lets fly uninhibitedly where it matters. Adrian Sâmpetrean is a strong Ferrando; Anna Lapkovskaja makes an impression as Ines, not least thanks to her three-tier beehive hairdo, in which a large bird seems to be nesting. Supported by high-quality playing from his Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim sounds more urgently engaged in the Verdi idiom than he was with Otello some years back. Those who want Netrebko at any cost may be willing to put up with Stölzl’s production. Speaking personally, I don’t see myself playing it again often, if at all.