Handel’s Opus 5 Trio Sonatas were published by John Walsh in 1739. Earlier publications of Handel’s chamber music were cobbled together by Walsh’s father without Handel’s involvement, and on this occasion most movements were adapted without substantial alteration from Chandos anthems and dance music which Handel composed for Marie Sallé in his Covent Garden operas. However, four sonatas feature newly composed music, so it seems likely that Handel had more personal influence upon the edition’s preparation than usual.

Each of the London Handel Players is familiar to the early music scene. For example, Adrian Butterfield has led the English Baroque Soloists, and Laurence Cummings is director of the London Handel Festival. The apparent diversity of Handel’s chamber music is arguably given some artificial boosting by Cummings’s inauthentic use of organ in sonatas which feature flautist Rachel Brown. Purists, with whom I sympathise, may disagree with this on principle; but the change of texture is appealing and certainly makes seven sonatas that were never intended to be heard one after another become palatable in one sitting. Others might argue that Handel’s music does not require help.

Sometimes this repertoire outstays its welcome in unimaginative hands but the London Handel Players’ performances are assured and surprisingly lyrical. Handel’s sonatas breathe with vitality and the close recorded sound furthers the disc’s sense of immediacy. There have been good recordings of Opus 5 by London Baroque (Harmonia Mundi) and L’Ecole d’Orphée (CRD, reissued on Brilliant Classics). I doubt this new disc will be the last word on the matter; but its immaculately prepared interpretations possess a subtlety and intelligence which give it a slight edge over its predecessors.