This recording is a superb performance of a jewel of an opera. Riccardo Muti's tempos are fast, very fast, and from the overture onwards, the opera sprints along in a wonderful way. There is a sense of joy in this performance that is largely absent in most performances (recorded or live) of this delightful operatic comedy. Muti keeps a very tight rein on his singers: although this is a bel canto opera (where elaborate vocal decorations and interpolated top notes are the norm), Muti does not permit his singers to indulge in any sort of vocal embellishments whatsoever.