This is a follow-up to Dynamic’s recordings of Partenope (10/12) and Didone abbandonata (10/17). Siroe was staged at the Teatro San Giovanni Crisostomo in Venice in February 1726. As became the norm, Metastasio’s libretto – one of his earliest – was subsequently taken up by many composers including Vinci’s rival Porpora, Vivaldi, Hasse (Decca, 1/15) and Traetta. Emira was played by Metastasio’s muse, Marianna Benti Bulgarelli, known as ‘La Romanina’; other members of the cast included the castratos ‘Nicolini’ (Nicola Grimaldi – Handel’s Rinaldo and Amadigi) as Siroe and Giovanni Carestini, later to star in Ariodante and Alcina, as Medarse.

Cosroe, the king of Persia, wishes to choose his successor. He favours his younger son, Medarse, who turns out to be a devious would-be murderer. Siroe, the elder son, is compromised by his love for Emira, daughter of Cosroe’s enemy; she, thought to be dead, has arrived at the court disguised as a man, bent on revenge for her father’s death. Siroe, who alone knows Emira’s identity, is torn between love and filial duty. Cosroe is in love with Laodice who, spurned by Siroe, gets involved in the plotting of both Medarse and Emira. The innocent Siroe is condemned to death but saved by Arasse. The inevitable happy ending includes forgiveness all round and the union of Emira and Siroe, who ascends the throne.

The three acts – one per disc – are laid out in the standard opera seria format: a succession of recitatives and arias with, here, a few bars of accompanied recitative when Medarse recites an oath of loyalty. There are no ensembles till the final, brief coro. The writing is fluent and melodious without being bland. There are dramatic pauses as, one by one, Siroe names the four characters ranged against him; the syncopated vocal line in ‘Gelido in ogni vena’ articulates Cosroe’s remorse. Vinci seizes the opportunities provided by Metastasio’s trademark metaphors: undulating strings for the waves in Arasse’s ‘L’onda che mormora’, horns to illustrate Laodice’s aria about a tigress protecting her cub from the huntsman – and what an effective entry, delayed until the word ‘cacciator’! Laodice’s ‘L’incerto mio pensieri’, at eight minutes the longest aria in the opera, features an oboe solo with cadenza, beautifully played by Hernan Garreffa.

The singing is excellent. There’s nearly an hour of secco recitative but it’s vivid and well paced. Medarse and Siroe are nicely contrasted, Leslie Visco’s brightness set against the near-contralto tones of Cristina Alunno. Daniela Salvo, more of a mezzo, makes Laodice into a surprisingly sympathetic character. Carlo Allemano, a fine Aeneas on the Didone abbandonata recording, is admirably regal, with effortless semiquaver runs. As with the brothers, there’s a clear distinction between Allemano and the lighter tenor of Luca Cervoni’s Arasse. Roberta Invernizzi, familiar from her recordings of Handel cantatas, is all too believable as the equivocal Emira.

Antonio Florio conducts the San Carlo orchestra, playing at present-day pitch, with a light touch. No details are given of his ‘revision’ but it’s clear that he has made some cuts. The booklet-note by Dinko Fabris includes a table of arias: five are missing from the recording, including one with trumpet to which Fabris particularly draws our attention. As so often, one wonders why the translation of the libretto was not entrusted to a native English speaker. But the music is the thing, and this is a welcome addition to the small number of recordings of operas by this gifted and influential composer.