The more one hears music from the four years Handel spent in Italy in his early twenties – and there is no shortage of opportunities these days – the clearer it becomes what an important period this was for him. It was there that he learnt the art of Italian-style vocal music at its source, while the sophisticated milieu in which he found himself stimulated him to work as productively and brilliantly as at any time in his life.

The largest single legacy of these years were around 100 chamber cantatas, from which Emma Kirkby and London Baroque have picked out four excellent examples from the 30 or so featuring one or two violins alongside the solo voice and continuo. In this they face strong competition from La Risonanza’s series with Italian singers on Glossa, but the clash does no damage to either group as both have distinct virtues. For some, of course, the presence of Emma Kirkby will be enough to seal the deal, and indeed she is on superb form. Early on there are a few signs of a lack of her usual instrumental precision; but by the time she is showing off her artless virtuosity in the final aria of Figlio d’alte speranze and striding easily through “Orrida, oscura”, the first aria of the compellingly dramatic Agrippina condotta a morire, all worries have long been banished. Her interpretative intelligence and attention to words are a given but she can also catch a subtle mood, as in “Quel povero core” from Un’ alma innamorata, whose sense of resigned torment is enhanced by a sensitive contribution from the solo violin. Emanuela Galli captures this kind of intimate emotion even more affectingly in La Risonanza’s performances, mind, but with a touch less vocal security.

The recorded sound, as often in London Baroque’s recordings for BIS, is strangely resonant and steely. The “Concerto a quattro” included here is claimed as a Handel work in its German 18th-century source but sounds like nothing of the kind.