Fernando is the abandoned first draft of Handel’s opera Sosarme (performed at the King’s Theatre in February 1732). We do not know why Handel changed almost all the character names, the location of the action and the title during the composition process, but in either guise the opera is full of top-drawer music. Alan Curtis has decided to reconstruct Fernando for philological reasons, although maybe the desire to bring us another “premiere” had something to do with it. Anthony Lewis’s pioneering L’Oiseau-Lyre LP set of Sosarme was the first Handel opera to be recorded with almost all voices in the right register and singing in Italian. Half a century later, there are still aspects of Lewis’s performance worth investigation (including Alfred Deller), unlike Johannes Somary’s calamitous 1994 version (Newport Classics, 12/94).

Curtis’s pacing and shaping of Handel’s music is consistently subtle, astutely rhetorical and firmly connected to the libretto text. Although it might be possible to explore firmer muscularity and create a more vivid sense of surprise in the quicker music, there is something to be said for Curtis’s shrewd reservation of such effects for when it is truly vital for the drama. For instance, Marianna Pizzolato’s powerful arias “Vado al campo” and “Cuor di madre e cuor di moglie” are potently delivered moments of severe agitated passion that are all the more effective for the sweeter elegance that pervades much of this lovely score. The sublime duet “Per le porte” is sung with poetic intimacy by Lawrence Zazzo and Veronica Cangemi. Zazzo sings his elegantly heroic aria “Alle sfere della gloria” with supple clarity. Max Emanuel Cencic is impressive as the reticent Sancio, unwilling to be used as a pawn in his ruthless grandfather Altomaro’s Machiavellian plans to tear the royal family apart. Antonio Abete gives an ideal account of the villain’s arias.

The only weak link is Filippo Adami’s vocally deficient Dionisio: natural Italian declamation in his extrovert recitatives is not enough to carry him through under-achieving blustery accounts of magnificent arias that deserve better. Il Complesso Barocco are excellent: ritornelli are intelligently weighted and phrased and instrumental contributions are patiently integrated with the singing. There are a few cuts to recitatives, but overall Fernando is one of Curtis’s most consistent and pleasing Handel opera recordings.