No Bohème, no Tosca, no Turandot – this is definitely not another disc of Puccini’s greatest hits, but a fascinating delve into mostly unfamiliar second thoughts or earlier versions of some key moments in the composer’s output.

The earliest item here is the charming orchestral Prelude from 1876, when Puccini was a student in Lucca. Even then, when he was only 18 years old, the style is recognisable. We then leap forward 44 years to the second version of La Rondine, altered by Puccini for the work’s first performance in Vienna. Here the second tenor, Prunier, was re-cast as a baritone. The gorgeous melody of the Act 2 quartet, possibly the best ensemble in all his oeuvre, in this version (reconstructed by Michael Kaye) gives even more prominence to the soprano line. Then Butterfly’s death from the 1904 La Scala premiere. This is more drawn-out than the familiar solo, unbearable, I’d have thought, for the soprano after such a gruelling evening; Pinkerton’s voice is not heard. The longest item, and the biggest surprise, is the duet from Edgar in its 1889 original form. Here a pre-echo of Act 3 of Tosca is vividly heard.

The beautiful Prelude to Act 1 of Edgar precedes two earlier versions of passages from Manon Lescaut: the Prelude to the original Act 3, really lovely, using the melody of Manon’s “L’ora, o Tirsi”, and then “Sola, perduta”, substantially different in form, although the main theme is as usual.

The two arias that will be familiar to many listeners are “Parigi è la città dei desideri” from the 1920 La Rondine, and Suor Angelica’s “Amici fiori”. (Lotte Lehmann recorded this, I think, at the time of the first Vienna Trittico.) Although Plácido Domingo’s name is, naturally, given equal billing with that of Violeta Urmana, he only sings on three of the tracks (La Rondine and Edgar). Urmana concludes the recital with the exhilarating aria with chorus from Edgar, “Evviva le coppe colmate!”. The Vienna forces under Alberto Veronesi accompany with gusto. A most enterprising and scholarly issue, which is also a great pleasure to listen to.