In fairness I should say that this show — which, with not a note cut, ran four and a quarter hours — was warmly acclaimed by some punters. Such is the mesmeric power of Handel. But I should also record that a hall packed to capacity at 7pm had scores of empty seats by Act III. Mine would have been one of them, had a puritanical sense of duty not kept my aching posterior in place.

Nothing wrong with the music. As Caesar, Cleopatra and bad brother Tolomeo jostle for power, Handel supplies one hit tune after another, and some sublime laments for Cornelia, stoic widow of defeated Pompey.

No grumbles, either, about the playing. The Freiburg Baroque Orchestra was superb. Its textures were animated, its tuning perfect (an echo aria for three fiddles was the best thing in the show) and its sense of drama compelling. Indeed, the orchestral openings to the arias often said far more about the characters’ mental state than the singers did.

And that was the main problem. The modern world is full of singers who can deliver Baroque music with style, agility and power. Yet recently I have reviewed several shows in which major roles have been ineptly cast. What’s going on? Are promoters succumbing to “package deal” offers from powerful agents?

Here was a case in point. Apart from Kristina Hammarström’s dignified Cornelia, no other voice had sufficient quality to justify the conductor René Jacobs’s decision to do the work uncut. In the title role the tall, thin Marijana Mijanovic had aptly androgynous looks but her foggy contralto had nothing like the incisive power to suggest Caesar’s imperial sway. Veronica Cangemi dealt with Cleopatra’s runs efficiently, but rarely mustered the tonal bloom to suggest the requisite sexual allure.

The counter-tenor Christophe Dumaux hammed outrageously as Tolomeo and barked his low notes. Malena Ernman got nowhere near the spitfire rage that the vengeful Sesto needs to summon. And so on. Add some ridiculously indulgent and overdone ornamentation, from continuo players as well as singers, and the result was a long, dull night that did George Frideric a disservice.

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