After 1741 Handel never again wrote or performed operas in London, but during the mid-1740s he created these two unstaged English music dramas based on Greek mythology. Well-intentioned concert performances often contain flaws that do not bear repeated listening on CD. The casts in both recordings are predominantly German. Poor pronunciation occasionally surfaces to their detriment (Britta Schwarz’s Ino is particularly marred by a Teutonic accent), and very few in Semele seem adequately immersed in the language or in their dramatic predicaments: Annette Markert sings Juno’s reaction to news of Jupiter’s infidelity without a hint of feistiness; Elisabeth Scholl’s “Endless pleasure” is devoid of sexy charm. The Frankfurt Baroque Orchestra is often scrappy in Semele, and the Overture is turned into a cringeworthy stumble by the violins’ lack of coordination and dodgy intonation.

The sound engineering is poor, the plodding organ continuo in recitatives is tedious, the choir is unfocused and most of the soloists are weak. Martini includes Ino’s aria “See, she blushing turns her eyes”, which Handel replaced with a recitative version for Athamas before the first performance (hearing this, one feels that Handel’s judgement was correct). The rejected aria version of Juno’s “Behold in this mirror” is also reinstated. There are a few bright spots: Knut Schoch has more enthusiasm in his singing as Jupiter, harpsichordist Ludger Rémy accompanies Semele’s “O sleep, why dost thou leave me?” with sensitivity, and Julia Schmidt delivers a nice interpretation of Cupid’s “Come, Zephyrs come” (which Handel also omitted).

Hercules receives a better performance. The orchestra sound like an entirely different group of players (just over half of them are) and often play with precision, vigour and awareness. Peter Kooij is a surprising choice to play the title-role; lighter in timbre than most brawny basses who tackle Hercules, he none the less sings with intelligence and warmth. Franz Vitzhum’s English is just about OK, and he is musically secure. Gerlinde Sämann sings Iole’s difficult arias with assurance; her English pronunciation is among the best from the German singers, and the astonishing aria “My father! Methinks I see” is excellently done. Scottish mezzo-soprano Nicola Wemyss shows astute awareness of Dejanira’s intense moods and gives an effective performance of “Where shall I fly?”. A few blips are inevitable in a live recording, and the choral sonority is woolly and underwhelming, but in certain respects Hercules is Martini’s most consistently agreeable Handel recording yet.