Dynamic has been building up a very worthwhile catalogue of live opera recordings, including rarities such as Massenet’s Roma. This set of Thaïs was taken from a stage production last November at the Teatro Malibran in Venice, one of the venues being used while the city’s historic Teatro La Fenice is under reconstruction. Almost every aspect of the production met with high praise from critics at the time and we can hear why on this set, even if the usual plus and minus points involved in live theatre recordings apply.

None of the recordings of Thaïs that has appeared since the Massenet renaissance of the 1970s – the Rudel, the Maazel or the recent Decca under Yves Abel – has derived from a stage production, which might be counted a weakness. At this Venice performance there is never any doubt that the opera gains from being encountered in the theatre, especially in the later stages where Massenet concentrates ever more intently on the psychological drama of the two main characters.

Unfortunately, it is the minus points of a live recording that become apparent first. At the start of a long evening neither of the two principal singers sounds in good voice. Eva Mei starts out shrill and a touch wobbly in the title-role and does not manage to curb the edge on her bright, clean, Italianate soprano in time for Thaïs’s glittering solo ‘Dis-moi que je suis belle’. It is not until after the ‘Méditation’, and Thaïs’s conversion, that Mei returns as a reformed woman in every sense, her singing now pure and perfectly controlled. With her good command of French, she makes the perfect incarnation of the newly fragile heroine from here to the end, even if the final duet calls for more lyric weight.

Michele Pertusi’s Athanaël starts out gruff and poorly-focused, without much colour in the voice. He, too, however, improves as the evening progresses and, while most of the baritones in this role on disc have had more glamour in their voices, Pertusi counters with a hard-headed understanding of the man behind the notes. (How tellingly he observes Massenet’s detailed markings in the crucial scene at the oasis.) William Joyner is adequate as Nicias, some of the small parts rather less so. The conductor, Marcello Viotti, paces the score keenly and admirably refuses to wallow in its beauties.

Those who found the Decca set with Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson too soft-centred will be happier with the stronger grip on the drama here. Otherwise there is no pressing reason to change the current recommendation. Dynamic’s live recording cannot match the Decca in colour or vibrancy, and those who are averse to stage noises will not appreciate the fountains of Alexandria splashing away merrily through the second scene. Purists should note that there are three small cuts (at the end of Act 1, just before the ‘Méditation’, and in the interlude before the final scene) and the ballet is omitted. In the final tally, Thaïs is all about the power of beauty. Hearing Fleming’s ravishing top notes and Hampson’s suavely lyrical baritone, who could fail to surrender?