Who was Molieri? No, not another composer unearthed by musicologists for rediscovery but a mash-up of the names of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri. It is the title of Czech bass-baritone Adam Plachetka’s debut recital album, with both composers sharing the limelight. Salieri was Mozart’s great rival at the Viennese court and – if one believes myth, Pushkin and Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus – his would-be poisoner. He composed nearly 40 operas, which have fallen into the footnotes of music history, although there have been occasional attempts to revive them (Riccardo Muti opened the La Scala season in 2004 with L’Europa riconosciuta).

The Salieri arias Plachetka sings were chosen to fit a recital programme with the Czech Ensemble Baroque under Roman Válek which eventually translated to disc during the pandemic. We get six arias plus the sinfonia to La grotta di Trofonio. A boastful aria from Falstaff has the fat knight blustering and singing falsetto; the merchant Blasio warns the Count about the jealousies of love in La scuola de’ gelosi. These are the types of characters who would appear in Mozart’s operas; indeed, they were often sung by the same performer – Francesco Benucci, who created the role of Blasio, was also the first Figaro.

It’s well-crafted music and Plachetka sings with enormous character, but there’s nothing to persuade me that the opera world suffers due to a lack of Salieri on the menu, especially when his works are set directly against Mozart himself. It’s like serving ketchup on schnitzel.

Plachetka is an accomplished Mozartian. Vocally, he reminds me of a young Bryn Terfel; there’s a similar weight and colour to their bass-baritones that inclines them more towards Figaro and Leporello than to Count Almaviva and Don Giovanni. Figaro’s ‘Non più andrai’ is full of bluff good humour but ‘Aprite un po’ quegl’occhi’ doesn’t have quite the same bitter bite as the Welshman (DG, A/06). Leporello’s Catalogue aria verges towards the serious, lacking Terfel’s twinkle, but he gives the Don’s Champagne aria the requisite swagger.

Plachetka’s Almaviva sounds suitably irked, although he’s noticeably less comfortable at the top of his range. ‘Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo’, Guglielmo’s aria from Così fan tutte that got replaced by ‘Non siate ritrosi’, is nicely sung, although it’s a pity we don’t get both on the programme, especially as the buffo aria from La finta giardiniera doesn’t really show Mozart at his finest.

The Czech Ensemble Baroque offer solid support, although the tinkly harpsichord intrudes too much, noticeably in the Figaro overture, but this album is a neat calling card for Plachetka.