A Breathless eroticism pounds through Montemezzi's L'Amore dei tre Re as violently and noisily as a stampede of horses over cobbles.

The work may be unsubtle, but its impact is shattering. Written in 1913, it enjoyed popularity until around 1950 when it suddenly fell from favour, perhaps on grounds of taste. A little operatic necrophilia goes a long way.

For sheer commitment to this lurid verismo rarity, Holland Park's production is faultless. A startled audience sat gripped for the intense 95 minutes (without interval), helped by an effective Fascist-era staging and an assured quartet of soloists pouring their hearts out in the hyper-dramatic main roles.

Set in the Middle Ages, with an underlying theme of Italian-nationalism, The Love of Three Kings draws on the sex-and-death tradition of Wagner, Debussy, Puccini and Strauss.

Female desire stalks the parapets. A blind old king - shades of Tristan, or Pelleas - stirs trouble between his daughter-in-law, Fiora, her lover, and her compassionate husband, with tragic consequences.

Peter Robinson generated a performance of surging energy from the City of London Sinfonia, cast and chorus. As Fiora, Amanda Enchalaz had graceful, brooding passion and thrilling force.

When the composer conducted the work at the New York Met in 1941 (a pirate recording has survived), a critic accused the uptight Fiora of pounding the counter like a Bronx housewife with a wooden leg. No such problems here. Enchalaz oozed desire.

Julian Gavin, as her lover Avito, had heroic, ringing tone and their love - or, rather, sex - duets were downright blue. Baritone Olafur Sigurdarson made the most of the paper-thin role of husband, Manfredo, with Mikhail Svetlov (bass) chilling as the embittered, groping father.

Director Martin Lloyd-Evans and designer Jamie Vartan used the wide stage skilfully, containing all within an Escher-like grey fortress. Unmissable.