CD CHOICE:BALFE: FALSTAFF Soloists: Marcel Vanaud, Majella Cullagh, Sam McElroy, Barry Banks, Tara Erraught, Nyle Wolfe,Victoria Massey, Brendan Collins, Edel O'Brien. RTE Concert Orchestra. The National Chamber Choir of Ireland Lyric FM CD 119 ****

This year is the bicentenary of the birth of Michael Balfe, Ireland's most famous Opera composer, remembered mostly for the aria I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls. To mark the occasion, in September Opera Ireland staged a concert performance of Balfe's opera Falstaff, which had not been performed since its premiere in London in 1838, at the National Concert Hall. The score was discovered in the British Library in London and reassembled for this performance.

There were rumours beforehand that this was a particularly fine score, but the Opera Ireland performance on the night was, to put it mildly, a revelation and a triumph for singers, conductor, orchestra and chorus alike.

Falstaffis full of effervescent music that supports and drives on the action. And while nobody would claim it to be on the same level as Verdi's masterpiece, it is certainly more idiomatic and enjoyable than some of the more famous attempts to set to music the life and doings of Sir John Falstaff.

The main parts were written for four of the most famous singers of the day - legendary in their lifetime - and provide fine showcases for the voice with the coloratura and roulades typical of the period. Purists may claim affinity to Rossini's and possibly Donizetti's music - not surprising, as Rossini was a friend and mentor of Balfe - but this does not detract from the fact that it is a sophisticated and, above all, melodious score in its own right. Due to deadlines, Balfe completed the work in less than eight weeks!

The success of this performance should stimulate Opera Ireland or Wexford to bring it to the stage in a fully staged costume version, which could well provide a springboard for its export to other European opera houses that have, in recent years, revived other period works that are inferior to this elegant and genuinely comic score. www.rte.ie/ shop

Download Tracks: Disc 1, Track 5, Ah, vecchiaccio scostumato; Track 16, Act 1 Finale; Disc 2, Track 7, Chi Mai vedo? Ah, Scellerato; Track 11, Rammenta Annetta amata