Premiered in Milan on December 26, 1772, Mozart’s second theatrical triumph is opera at its most imposingly seria. As one gargantuan bravura aria succeeds another, the experience can seem more like an upmarket coloratura contest than a life-or-death drama. Yet while several arias are off-the-peg Mozart, the central roles of the lovers Giunia and Cecilio inspired the 16-year-old composer’s most powerful operatic music to date.

This 1975 recording has done the rounds since its initial LP incarnation. Its latest appearance, at budget price, without libretto, is vindicated by much of the singing, less so by Leopold Hager’s competent but uninspiring direction. Repeated-note ‘drum-bass’ accompaniments chug dutifully, some tempi are oddly chosen, while the recitatives, given complete, plod interminably.

Still, the cast includes some of the most distinguished Mozart singers of their generation. Always a paragon of Mozartian style, the pellucid-toned Arleen Auger encompasses both the pathos and the passion of Giunia’s music. In the castrato role of Cecilio, Julia Varady is more variable (intonation can be suspect), but always fierily intense, using her darkly flaring chest register to baleful effect. As Silla’s sister Celia, Helen Donath gracefully negotiates the high-lying staccato passages that were a speciality of the role’s original singer. Edith Mathis, another fine Mozart stylist, despatches Cinna’s heroic Act 3 aria with imperious aplomb. Silla himself has only two arias. Peter Schreier sings these reliably musically, without suggesting the dictator’s vengeful fury. The singing alone makes this set worth hearing. But for colour and dramatic vitality, not least in the acres of recitative, go for Harnoncourt’s controversially larger-than-life Teldec performance (with the young Bartoli a superb Cecilio), or, best of all, the 2008 Dacapo recording, with a lively cast of fresh, youthful voices under the inspiriting direction of Adam Fischer.