This is a review of a new recording of Pergolesi's opera L'Olimpiade, based on Pietro Metastasio's popular libretto about love, disguise and mistaken identity at the ancient Olympic Games. The recording, conducted by Giulio Prandi with the Orchestra Ghislieri, is praised for its brisk pacing and strong cast, offering a lively account of a rarely heard baroque work by a composer who died young at 26 before he could fulfil his operatic promise.

Metastasio's convoluted tale of disguised competitors, love triangles and a long-lost twin was set by more than 60 composers, including Caldara, Vivaldi and Cherubini, but Pergolesi's 1735 version is considered among the finest. Recorded live in 2025 at the 18th-century Teatro Pergolesi in Jesi, the composer's hometown, Prandi's two-and-a-half-hour edit trims an earlier four-hour recording by Alessandro De Marchi to keep the drama moving, aided by sinewy, tightly sprung orchestral playing. The cast, including Carlotta Colombo as Aristea, Silvia Frigato as Argene, Josè Maria Lo Monaco as Licida and Theodora Raftis as Megacle, is singled out for praise, though the live recording includes some audible stage noise and applause.