Handel took a less-is-more approach to his Amadigi di Gaula. Christian Curnyn’s answering restraint reveals the stark solos, shimmering textures, ringing silences and stunning one-to-a-part counterpoint of music that fairly bursts with its composer’s early genius.

…From a musical standpoint, Handel is at the top of his game. There is an abundance of slow and expressive arias, but he knows how to pace them according to the plot. One cannot ask for a better performance than the Early Opera Company. The soloists, as noted, are all first-class, and their ability to imbue sensitivity and emotion into the music provides just the sort of mood that is required.

Curnyn’s cast of expert Handelians is self-recommending. In a performance both commanding and sympathetic, Mary Bevan catches each fluctuating emotion of Handel’s scorned sorceress.

All the vocal performances by a cast that is dramatically fully engaged are good, with special kudos going to the full-blooded commitment of Mary Bevan’s Melissa and the affecting Oriana of Anna Dennis.

Curnyn and his company accompany the fine soloists — Tim Mead, Anna Dennis, Mary Bevan and Hilary Summers — with playing of sprightliness, subtle shading and captivating fluidity. Mead’s performance of the aria At the Fountain of Truth would melt the hardest heart.

All the roles are for high voices, which could have made for unvaried home listening, but there’s an effective contrast between the liquid tone of Tim Mead’s countertenor in the title role and the distinctive steel-cored contralto of Hilary Summers as his false friend Dardano. The two sopranos, Mary Bevan as Melissa and Anna Dennis as Oriana, are closer in tone but both respond with some glorious singing to the way Handel’s music draws their differing characters.