Crowe and Bevan recreate two prime donne through their own blazing talents.

This soundly made programme is both pleasing and intriguing…Crowe plays Cuzzoni as a bright soprano whose technical precision and agile upward-leaping ornaments combine with musicality to impress and move, while Mary Bevan offers a Bordoni with a lower centre of gravity, generally darker and more directly theatrical.

The two British sopranos that emulate them here are both significant artists in their own right with distinctive voices of their own, Lucy Crowe’s bright soprano bringing to Cuzzoni’s arias quite a different character to the fuller, more burnished tone of Mary Bevan.

Crowe draws the long straw with Cuzzoni’s show-stoppers from Giulio Cesare and Scipione, but Bevan’s sweet tone and instrumental style shine in lesser works for Faustina.

Lucy Crowe, clear as a bell, is outstanding in arias reflecting Cuzzoni’s higher vocal range. Mary Bevan can’t shine as strongly in Bordoni’s lower register, but she remains an enjoyable guide to delectable titbits by Hasse, Bononcini and other oddments, as well as Handel.

The choice of singers in Handel’s Queens seems perfect, for the two excellent and appropriate voices are neatly contrasted while displaying the required virtuosity. Cunningham’s contribution is adroit, with pace and style aplenty and she conducts from the harpsichord.