Let's not waste time: get this for soprano Lucy Crowe's voice, for her performance of "What passion cannot Music raise", for her "The soft complaining flute"–and don't forget the glorious "But oh! What art can teach". Okay–just get this for the magnificent Crowe, whose golden, ringing tone and impeccable, uninhibited technique sets Handel's arias ablaze in vibrant, scintillating glory, relegating any recorded competition to second-class status. (Listen to that long-held, stratospheric note in the final chorus, on the words "The trumpet shall be heard on high"–on high, indeed; it seems like Crowe could have sustained it forever!) To sing Handel requires technical ease and comfort, range and unreserved explicatory ability–and in this, and in her complete habitation of the world of Handelian style Lucy Crowe is unsurpassed.

In Handel’s Rodelinda, the characters know only too well that in the corridors of power, complete candour is unwise. In the face of dishonour and the loss of her loved ones, Rodelinda’s dignified resistance and exemplary spirit ultimately elevate her amongst her rivals. In this recording The English Concert together with an all-star cast, directed by Harry Bicket, bring to life Handel’s music as it underpins the intricate twists and turns of his characters and their complex relationships.