Overall, Laurent Pelly’s 2007 staging for the Royal Opera, now enjoying its fourth revival, achieves a fine balance between bringing out both the piece’s light-hearted and more sober elements.

Despite some gorgeous arias, Laurent Pelly's bracingly hard-edged approach to the Donizetti classic has become softened.

A la tête d'un orchestre en pleine forme, Evelino Pidò offre une direction attentive et pétulante, joyeuse sans lourdeur. Une vraie fête.

The replacements make an honourable job of it. Sabine Devieilhe may have a voice slightly too small for the house, but her technical skills and stage personality bring her solid success as tomboy Mari

Pido plays the straight man to Pelly's clown, offering gentle, discursive comedy and lightly rolling rhythms rather than anything more obviously knockabout. It's a decision that keeps things just the ri