On the day before the first performance of Monteverdi’s Orfeo on February 24, 1607, in the ducal palace in Mantua, a courtier who was to attend wrote to his brother in Rome. It was going to be a great novelty, he explained, because all the actors ‘were to speak musically’. Although Monteverdi was clearly inspired by the earlier Florentine settings of the same story by Jacopo Peri and Giulio Caccini, he composed a score of much greater variety and dimensions, an unprecedented, rapidly changing sequence of solo singing, chorus work, dances and instrumental interludes. Ever since Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Jürgen Jürgens’s pioneering recordings, the interpretational demands of what has become established as the most frequently performed and accessible of all of Monteverdi’s operas have turned on questions of casting, ensemble size, the deployment of instrumental forces and improvised ornamentation.

This latest version brings together three Swedish ensembles: Lundabarock supplies the voices, Höör Barock contributes most of the instrumentalists and Altapunta provides cornetts and trombones, making some 38 performers in total. The resulting challenge of respecting the internal balances of the work is approached with sensitivity but not with enough attention to the fact that the first performance was given by a small number of singers; some sang more than one role, and all of them formed the chorus. Here some 15 singers participate, and while some doubling takes place, the result lacks the intimacy of Monteverdi’s original conception.

Fredrik Malmberg has chosen a cast of comparatively little-known soloists, an approach reminiscent of Gabriel Garrido’s 1996 recording. The one exception is Johan Linderoth as Orfeo; his lithe and pleasing tenor is light and velvety in tone. Seventeenth-century Italian bass singers were legendary for their power and range, which in some cases spanned three octaves. Steffen Bruun’s Caronte displays both these features but is short on focus and sometimes vocal control. Although there is a certain uniformity of approach and tonal quality among the other singers, especially those in the minor female roles, there are occasional passages of incisive and effective characterisation, notably in Maria Forsström’s reading of the messenger’s dramatic announcement. Apart from this critical moment in the drama, which completely alters the prevailing mood of Arcadian festivity, the sound and interpretational style, particularly of the first two acts, is rather uniform. While displaying enthusiasm and well-rehearsed ensemble in the choral sections, the approach ultimately lacks the full-bodied exuberance and sense of dramatic engagement that comes with deep involvement with Monteverdi’s rhetorical language.

Any new recording of Orfeo faces stiff competition. In this one there is some fine instrumental playing, with the outstandingly crisp delivery and rhythmic vitality of the wind instrumentalists bringing particular pleasure. Improvised ornamentation is for the most part discrete. Malmberg’s decision to involve so many understated voices, together with his choice of mostly unhurried tempos, does create its own atmosphere and dynamic but many listeners will stick with their established preferences.