When the Metropolitan Opera asked composer John Corigliano to write them a new opera to celebrate their centenary in 1983, no one expected to get one of the nuttiest pieces of theatrical lunacy in the history of the art form – and eight years late at that. The Ghosts of Versailles was a sell-out hit in 1991, but an attempt to revive it in 2008 was canceled due to the weakened US economy. This LA Opera live recording under James Conlon stems from 2015 and gives a pretty fare impression of the busy score and crazy plot.

Set in the afterlife, the ghost of Beaumarchais attempts to
cheer up the melancholy shade of Marie Antoinette by putting on a new opera. In it, Count Almaviva, aided by Figaro and Susanna attempt to save the Queen from being executed by the Revolution. Finally, Antoinette forbids Beaumarchais (who steps into the action) to alter the course of history, accepting her fate and going willingly to the guillotine. The Almavivas escape to America while the Queen and Beaumarchais are united in Paradise.

Corigliano’s attractive, sparkling music ranges from semi-atonal to Classical operatic pastiche. There’s something fundamentally undisciplined about the writing,...