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Antonio Vivaldi was an important opera composer, with at least 47 operas--and perhaps twice that many--to his credit. But he first became known to modern audiences almost exclusively for his instrumental music. This unbalanced view does not mean that his operatic music is inferior to his concertos. It reflects instead economic conditions (opera costs a lot more to produce than instrumental music) and major changes in the tastes of the opera audience during the 19th century and much of the 20th. Baroque opera has made a comeback in popular taste in recent decades, and this production of Orlando furioso embodies the genre's distinctive qualities: elaborately ornamented da capo arias, the use of high-pitched voices (originally castrati) in heroic roles, and an intricate plot full of implausible relations, misunderstandings, and deceptions among star-crossed lovers. The primary reason for the recording's existence is the spectacular performance of Marilyn Horne in the role of the medieval knight Orlando, legendary nephew of Charlemagne, including a long and technically dazzling mad scene. But the San Francisco Opera has assembled a stellar cast for the sometimes extraordinary demands of the other roles. Particularly impressive are Susan Patterson as Angelica, whom Orlando loves to the point of madness, and Kathleen Kuhlmann as the wicked witch Alcina, but the whole cast performs without significant weakness. Visually, the production captures the fairy-tale quality of the libretto, and conductor Randall Behr has Vivaldi's style, vocal and instrumental, well in hand. --Joe McLellan
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