Verdi’s fourth opera, I Lombardi, comes with little consensus opinion, the music suggesting an overlooked masterwork though the beyond-pedestrian libretto was simply ignored by Verdi for long stretches where words and music express rather different emotional states. Such was the dramaturgical climate of the 1840s: opera had to be a rich, varied menu of music, whether or not the words supported it. On that front, I Lombardi certainly delivers, and also happens to be an important and enjoyable crossroads in the composer’s evolution.

In a plot that includes murder among brothers amid the First Crusade c1100, Verdi looked back to the success of Nabucco with some choruses that seem cut from the same cloth as ‘Va pensiero’, but also had premonitions of Rigoletto (the first scene’s grim prelude and the rousing chorus that follows) plus a tenor high note at the end of ‘La mia letizia infondere’ that was recycled for ‘Celeste Aida’. What gets in the way of the opera’s present is casting: the six significant characters require star voices; individual scenes thrive on their heat and charisma.

Conductor Ivan Repušić has the advantage of an extraordinary clear sound picture that makes room for all orchestral sections, choruses (on and offstage) and, of course, the solo vocal line-up, which is a solid B level cast, anchored by Nino Machaidze (Giselda) and Michele Pertusi (Pagano). Repušić’s pacing is sure. The drama explodes in the right places. In potentially formulaic moments, Repušić clearly shows how Verdi veered into more personal territory. The sound palette is richer than one might expect from early Verdi. The delicacy that Repušić finds in Giselda’s ‘Salve Maria’ aria is celestial. The overall package is highly attractive, especially considering that this recording comes from a single live concert performance.

Any Lombardi recording, however, must confront the long shadow of the 1997 Metropolitan Opera cast directed by James Levine in a time capsule of that company’s previous generation. Somewhat taken for granted when initially released, the Met cast had then-over-familiar voices (Samuel Ramey, June Anderson and Luciano Pavarotti – reportedly singing from a wheelchair) but the recording is now a classic.

That doesn’t count out this new recording at all. In Oronte’s conversion to Christianity, the Act 3 ‘Qual voluttà trascorrere’ ensemble had Pavarotti (who is at his best) pulling back his voice to convey religious revelation with a highly deliberate articulation of the words. But the Munich recording’s Piero Pretti finds a timbre unlike anything heard from him previously, somewhat restrained and conveying awe. I love both in different ways but Pretti is more memorable.

For all her commanding Verdian volatility, Machaidze is less effective: the microphones aren’t kind to her aggressive vibrato, which also gets in the way of the vocal blends that are the hallmark of the Anderson/Pavarotti duets on the Decca set. As Pagano, Pertusi also has some vocally unruly moments but his sound and overall sense of authority is one of the set’s main vocal assets. This is one in a series of early-Verdi opera recordings from Repušić; even if this Lombardi isn’t all it could be, one looks forward to more from him.