Classical Opera founder Ian Page continues his survey of rare Mozart with Il Sogno di Scipione, a “serenata” for three tenors and three sopranos composed by a 16-year-old just trying his hand at opera after a trip with father Leopold to Italy. It shows a young genius well beyond his years. With no real plot the music has to drive things alone and there is some scintillating orchestral writing.

Scipione’s first aria, Risolver non osa, is something that Gluck would have been more than happy with. Stuart Jackson handles the flowery melisma passages easily. The aria also demonstrates, as does the entire work, young Mozart’s debt to the Italians. The work was written as a tribute to the Archbishop...