The idea of alternating trio sonatas with cantatas is a happy one, based perhaps on the idea that people play CDs for pleasure and not simply for reference. This one, I imagine by design rather than accident, even follows an agreeably smooth sequence of keys. Neither of the cantatas recorded here, both written when Handel was a young man in Rome, is currently in the catalogue. Tra le fiamme is a spectacularly scored piece, its textures enriched by a viola da gamba obbligato (probably composed for a visiting virtuoso) and wind instruments (recorders in some numbers, oboes in another) as well as strings. Notte placida e cheta, which I believe has not been recorded before, is a delightful evocation of night, sleep and amorous reflection, with its opening aria full of sinuous, voluptuous interweaving violin lines and its soft, gently accompanied recitatives; it ends – a slightly rude awakening, perhaps, to chime with the words – with a fugal aria in which the singer takes one of the four contrapuntal parts along with the violins and the bass. Catherine Bott, whose voice has gained in warmth and colour in recent years while remaining clear and firm in focus, sings them very responsively, both to the words and to the sense of Handel’s lines, with neatly placed detail and some attractively floated phrases. The viol obbligato is done in accomplished style by Richard Boothby who supplies much of the continuo harmony with multiple stops.
In the trio sonatas there is some splendidly athletic playing from the violins of the Purcell Quartet, who play with their usual spruce rhythms and conversational give and take; in several movements, such as the second and the fourth of Op. 2 No. 5 or the second of Op. 5 No. 7, the cello joins in on equal terms (its rushing semiquavers come out rather prominently in the recording). There is some gently eloquent playing in the Adagio of the Op. 2 Sonata and the Purcellian Passacaille in Op. 5 No. 4, and nicely sprung rhythms in the dances in the Op. 5 pieces. I thought the witty hesitation in the finale of Op. 2 No. 5 slightly overdone, and might have preferred shorter upbeats in the French overture movement in Op. 5 No. 4. But these are trivia, not even blemishes on what are probably the most appealing performances I can remember of these works.'