The Handel revival of recent years has given only modest attention to the cantatas; this must be one of the few substantial repertories of fine music by any great composer still scantily represented in the record catalogues. Of the three here, Lucrezia is in fact not otherwise available. Composed during Handel’s youthful years in Italy, they contain some of the boldest and most adventurous music he ever wrote, and certainly amongst the most passionate. These three are not to the pastoral, amorous texts that were widely favoured: two of them deal with tragic episodes in Roman history (the rape of Lucretia and the condemnation to death of Agrippina by her son Nero), the other, after Tasso, with the betrayal of Armida.
These performances by Veronique Gens, whom I have not heard in Handel before, amply capture this passionate character. She brings to them a full, warm, large voice, not entirely without hints of vibrato, but handled with real feeling for style; she uses the words and their sound effectively, phrases expressively and sometimes subtly, varies her colour a good deal, and brings particular emotional energy to the recitatives. She elaborates the da capo sections effectively and musically, sometimes varying rather than embellishing, but always attentively to the harmonic context. Lucrezia draws some remarkably intense singing from her, in the highly chromatic F minor aria and in the lament-like ‘Alla salma infedel’ (where, incidentally, the continuo cellist takes the echoing solo instrumental line at the end, and does so very expressively; he plays with virtuosity, too, in the brisk second aria). In this lament, the main continuo accompaniment is assigned to the theorbo, which emphasizes the intimate tone of the music. In Armida I also particularly enjoyed the violin playing, brilliant in the furioso recitative, stylish and sweet-toned in ‘Venti, fermate’, which is not dashed off at excessive speed. They play with admirable spirit and rhythmic spring in the lively second aria of Agrippina, too, where again Gens sings commandingly, impassioned in the first aria (‘Orrida, oscura’), with lightness in the second and then with much intensity in the beautiful ‘Come, o Dio!’ (again with the theorbo aptly prominent) and also in the concluding recitatives. Les Basses Reunies supplies excellent continuo support. Altogether highly impressive performances of some superlative music.'