It is in fact Julia Lezhneva, ‘the Angel’, who dazzles most brightly. In her second aria, she bends prestissimo passages to swoop and jump, executing more notes per second at more extreme intervals than seems humanly possible. Breathtaking.

Les Accents under Thibault Noally, just strings and continuo, play with impeccable style. It is all very nicely done.

The stand-out performances come courtesy of the two sopranos. As Josue (the gentlest and most faithful of the exhausted Israelites), Bruno de Sá provides some of the most luminously beautiful singing on the album...Julia Lezhneva once again delivers the bravura firepower which won her a record-contract with Decca in her early twenties, but what’s equally startling is the new level of dramatic conviction in her singing here.

The performances are dazzling; the strings of Les Accents catch the tone of extrovert brilliance and lyrical exuberance right from the start, and the soloists never miss any opportunities that Hasse’s score offers them.

Jaroussky’s vocal manner and colouring never suggest a stentorian character who can part the Red Sea but that shouldn’t deter anybody from enjoying Hasse’s flamboyantly lyrical creation, splendidly mounted by Thibault Noally’s ensemble Les Accents and a lively cast...Always a man of the theatre, Hasse knew exactly what he was doing. I enjoyed this album so much.