Cecilia Bartoli is most at home in mezzo-soprano material, where her tone is particularly rich and natural, her style exactly what the music requires. But she also slips easily into the soprano roles of Zerlina, Papagena, and Susanna. She takes a tantalizing step into promising, relatively unfamiliar territory with an aria from Haydn's L'anima del filosofo. Bryn Terfel shows a significant comic flair in the "catalog aria" from Don Giovanni and a heroic dimension in an aria from Judas Maccabeus--in either style, displaying a voice that is pure gold.

Still, vocal material is relatively scanty in this 90-minute production compared to the CD. Two overtures are included and are well played, but are not likely to appease fans who will continue to call for more singing. --Joe McLellan