The Two Widows, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Edinburgh Festival

Francesco Corti, the conductor of Scottish Opera's new production of Smetana's The Two Widows, may have had an easier task. But this does not detract from his achievement. It was an object lesson in how to direct an opera, and the orchestra sounded transparent and lithe.

The cast was ideal for the task. As the gay Karolina, Kate Valentine was light and buoyant; David Pomeroy, as the romantic hero Ladislav, fielded a rich high tenor that never flagged.

Unfortunately the piece was let down by the translation of David Pountney and Leonard Hancock, which had too many rhymes and not enough wit. Otherwise, it was a simple solution to a simple problem, warmed by Smetana's unsinkable lyric invention.