When the Vatican drastically curtailed public opera performances, the opera-mad Roman aristocracy consoled themselves with allegorical and/or moralising oratorios, in effect unstaged opere serie. Written in 1715 for the fabulously wealthy Prince Ruspoli (onetime patron of the young Handel), Antonio Caldara’s La conversione di Clodoveo relates the legend of the Frankish King Clovis’s conversion to Christianity, urged by his pious wife Clotilde, and clinched by an epiphany on the field of battle. If the work has its patches of Italianate routine, the succession of arias, leavened by three husband-wife duets, is rarely less than agreeable and sometimes rather more: in, say, the beguiling minuet aria in which Clotilde entreats Clovis to turn from Mars to the true God; or two solos for Bishop (and future Saint) Remigius, spiritual counsellor to Clotilde, the first a gently expressive siciliano, the second a vivid ìstormî aria. Here and elsewhere Caldara’s rhythms and slender, mainly homophonic textures anticipate the gallant style that would gradually supersede the High Baroque.

The Canadian singers and instrumentalists do this attractive work proud. The playing of the period band – strings, occasionally complemented by recorder or oboe – is polished, rhythmically lively (the continuo never lapses into Baroque auto-chug) and sensitively shaped. Allyson McHardy’s strong, finely focused mezzo is equally impressive in Clovis’s bellicose extrovert arias and his luminous final invocation of divine love – which is one of the oratorio’s highlights. Of the two nimble, graceful sopranos, Nathalie Paulin touchingly conveys Clotilde’s tender concern for her husband; and countertenor Matthew White despatches the vigorous arias of the army captain Uberto with unhooty bravado, abetted by lusty orchestral playing.

The English translation of the libretto is stilted and error-strewn, however. But this should not deter Baroque lovers from investigating a thoroughly worthwhile piece from one of the most famous and prolific composers of his day.