This is a second reissue, and quite right too: it should never be out of the catalogue for long. Both cantatas are delightful works, and the performances have such freshness and spirit that the whole thing works like a tonic. Ameling's voice is at its purest, and she draws a firm, even line, sensitive but unfussed. In the Giulio Cesar recitative she declaims her ''Ahi, fate rio'' with intensity, bringing a fine dramatic attack to the middle section of the aria.
It's a record where everything seems to be done with joy—the playing is always so much more than merely accomplished and tasteful. Among the pleasures is the splendidly pictorial entry into what Marlowe called ''the windy country of the clouds'' in Silete venti with its jogging ''Alleluias'' (and no intrusive aspirates), and the jaunty start of Crudel tiranno energetically suggests that the tyrant has probably met his match here. Recorded sound remains excellent, and one's only regret is that the short texts are not included, as in the previous reissue (6570 113, 9/81—nla).'