When it comes to the history of French opera, the team at Palazetto Bru Zane is doing a sterling job at filling in the blanks between the demise of Gluck and the rise of Meyerbeer.

A key figure of the neglected Napoleonic period is the Italian-born Gaspare Spontini (1774 – 1851), a composer who in his long career could count both the Empress Josephine and Berlioz among his admirers.

Indeed, the former was instrumental in encouraging his greatest hit La Vestale. Newly recorded here, it is Bru Zane’s follow up to Spontini’s engaging Olimpie (released 2019).

If people know La Vestale today, it’s likely because it was revived in 1954 as a vehicle for Maria Callas. Those performances were given in Italian, of course, and there is much in this new recording of the original French version that will feel fresh. That’s due to conductor Christophe Rousset, his impressive period-instrument ensemble Les Talen Lyriques, and the Flemish Radio Choir who restore...