Let me get this straight. Morasto, previously named Osmino, has been long in love with the nymph Licori, once his betrothed. His brother Osmino, previously named Tirsi, now thinks she’s the goat’s whiskers too, as does Oralto, the booming pirate who at different periods kidnapped all three to his island stronghold, Naxos. Naturally Licori is in a pickle — partly because she confuses the two Osminos, and partly because she must wrestle with some of the most technically treacherous treble-voice arias in all baroque opera. Welcome to Vivaldi’s La fida ninfa.

Because of the pastoral libretto’s silliness and dramatic deficiencies, this dramma per musica” of 1732 is no easy candidate for a modern stage revival. But the music screams for attention on CD, as this superb French studio recording proves. One aria of scorching invention follows another, often bedecked with nimbly illustrative orchestral finery.

An aria addressed to gentle breezes? The orchestra whispers, just above the audibility level. An aria hinged on the metaphor of a serpent? Bring on fast-curling, encircling strings. In the hands of Jean-Christophe Spinosi’s bubbly Ensemble Matheus, every effect hits home, uncrippled by arch mannerisms of rhythm or tone.

It’s the singers, though, that matter most. Vivaldi was writing for the inaugural festivities of the Nuovo Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, a theatre 12 years in construction, and he piled on the vocal glitter. In a strong cast, Sandrine Piau as Licori the “faithful nymph”, and Verónica Cangemi, in trousers as Morasto, Licori’s old flame, easily conquer their arias’ rapid flourishes and tricky leaps. Philippe Jaroussky’s sinuous counter-tenor enjoys an easier ride, but his gilded sheen is just as potent in repose in the role of the Osmino with the roving eye.

And there’s more on offer than technical brio. Vivaldi does not write with Handel’s psychological penetration, and he’s not handling characters of great depth. Yet feelings still matter. Piau’s account of Dalla gioia e dall’ amore, the musical highpoint, reached when the plot’s confusions clear, is a masterpiece of halting tenderness. Every act brings similar triumphs; and if recitatives occasionally spin on too long, the arias, duets and ensembles speedily bring joy. In the hands of Spinosi’s crack team, La fida ninfa is a spectacular baroque rediscovery, and resistance is pointless.

Naive, TS £24.45

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