Here is a real treat for Verdians. Claudio Abbado’s absolute mastery of every aspect of the score is at the heart of the performance’s success. Every bar vibrates with life and significance, yet the overall picture of Verdi’s dark-hued drama is admirably conveyed.

His reading is complemented by Peter Stein’s traditional staging in Stefan Mayer’s simple, unobtrusive scenery. It may not have the visual genius of the 1970s La Scala staging by Strehler, conducted by Abbado, and on which his DG recording was based, but in remaining blessedly faithful to the libretto it enhances rather than gets in the way of the music. Besides, Stein, as he showed in his Welsh National Otello and Falstaff, is a master of directing singers, persuading them for the most part to peer into the souls of the characters they are portraying. Every scene is given a specific focus, culminating in a searing finale set against a backdrop of only the sea.

Abbado and Stein assembled a cast worthy of their direction. Vocally or dramatically, Carlo Guelfi may not have the charisma of Piero Cappuccilli or Renato Bruson in the title part, but by his own appreciable means he builds his portrait of a man of feeling and authority; his control of line and phrasing places his contribution to a keenly delineated, indeed electrifying, account of the Council Chamber scene on a high level of achievement, and he is quietly eloquent in his death scene. Lucio Gallo creates a Iago-like portrait of scheming nastiness in his pointedly sung and arrestingly acted Paolo.

As Amelia, Karita Mattila surpasses anything I have heard her do in Italian opera. Her typically unconventional, Garbo-like, acting has its own justification by making Amelia a much more positive character than is customary, and she sings with a sure command of light and shade, offering some exquisite pianissimi. As an implacable Fiesco, Julian Konstantinov is a towering figure with an impressive voice to match, though he cannot quite hide an inappropriate youthfulness of mien. Vincenzo La Scola’s keenly sung Gabriele is a mite more conventional than the rest, but his sense of Verdian style and the quiet, inward start to his aria are the work of an intelligent artist.

All the singers form part of a securely integrated ensemble supported by dedicated playing and singing from the Maggio Musicale orchestra and chorus. The excellence of the video direction and sound quality add to one’s pleasure at this momentous enactment of Verdi’s sombre masterpiece.