sopranos Roberta Invernizzi and Silvia Frigato share the honours with tenor Krystian Adam and baritone Thomas Bauer, and they are all up to the pieces' demands…the accompaniments, meanwhile, are stylishly handled by the three members of La Risonanza

The chamber singing of all participants has pinpoint accuracy, refined poise and poetic expressiveness; there is a pleasing hint of teasing wistfulness between Bauer and Frigato in the gently affectionate Che vai pensando, folle pensier…continuo accompaniments are realised with exquisite subtlety by Caterina dell’Agnello (cello), Evangelina Mascardi (theorbo) and Fabio Bonizzoni (harpsichord). Beaming a searchlight into the darkest and furthest corners of Handel’s youthful Italian-period creations, these sage performances are essential fare.

Here’s a new star in the making. Mineccia was a vicious-sounding Tolomeo, the villain of Alan Curtis’s recording of Handel’s Giulio Cesare, but this new album of arias, mostly written in London by Handel’s Royal Academy colleague Ariosti, reveals a voice of sensual beauty, especially in languorous arias such as Bella mia, lascia ch’io vado, from The Glorious Omens of Scipio Africanus (Vienna, 1704). His virtuosity in the bravura numbers is breathtaking, too.

You can expect these days to hear sopranos of impeccable virtuosity such as Roberta Invernizzi and Silvia Frigato, though they blend and balance with exceptional skill. Rather more surprising is the equally effortless clarity and brilliance of Thomas Bauer’s baritone, matching every roulade with easy grace.

Both Invernizzi and Frigato have sweet-toned, full soprano voices…and Bauer’s baritone gives the trio a strong foundation … underlain by the excellent continuo playing of Caterina dell’Agnello (mellow cello), Evangelina Mascardi (a lush and plummy theorbo) and Fabio Bonizzoni, crisp and elegant on the harpsichord.

You can't imagine them being better performed than they are here; sopranos Roberta Invernizzi and Silvia Frigato are immaculately matched in the pair of duets they share...Handel’s settings have an extraordinary vivacity and zest, prompting smiles even when the texts are gloomy. And who needs an orchestra when Fabio Bonizoni's stripped-down, three-person La Risonanza provide such lively backing?