To mark the opera’s 250th anniversary, Julien Chauvin and his period ensemble Le Concert de la Loge have produced this impressive new recording of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Aulide. Drawing on the manuscripts used for the initial performances in 1774, Chauvin has kept the dances to a minimum and done away with the deus ex machina that Gluck apparently disliked. He has also brought together a cast whose vocal and theatrical characteristics strongly resembles that of the artists of Gluck’s day.

Chauvin’s research and passion is evident, and while it does confer on this recording a sense of excitement and intrigue, what stands out most is just how solid the gathered forces are. Le Concert de la Loge give Gluck’s elegant score a supremely assured reading, the use of period instruments imbuing the music with a bite and liveliness that ratchets up the drama, which can sometimes register as more on the restrained side.

The singing is just as good, the standard set by soprano Judith van Wanroij in the title role. Her warm, expressive soprano is immediately sympathetic, and...