Somehow it seems appropriate to have photos of a sun-soaked high diver on the cover of this release. Australia may seem a long way from Handel’s London but there is no lack of engagement with his greatest set of orchestral compositions here; these are performances of style and understanding into which Paul Dyer and his fine period orchestra have plunged with freshness, buoyancy and joyful enthusiasm. Next to the rather pallid recent recording by Arte dei Suonatori (BIS, 2/09) they are full of light and life, while compared to the imaginative but possibly over-excitable accounts from Il Giardino Armonico (L’Oiseau-Lyre, 4/09) they present a reading that is more orthodox, and therefore for many listeners perhaps more durable.

If there is nothing greatly radical in these interpretations, then, it hardly matters when the music is delivered with such straightforward energy, commitment and skill. Concertos Nos 2, 5, 7, 9 and 10 are especially successful, with the string-players laying into their bowing with relish (the siciliana-like Larghetto of No 9 is richly drawn) and the concertino soloists delivering the occasional exuberant but shapely cadenza (a violin even breaks into tasteful double-stopping in No 1). No 8 has strongly punched tutti chords in the Grave movement and a final Allegro full of eager detail, and there is a delicious air of Frenchness to the first Allegro of No 10.

The booklet reveals that the 12 concertos were recorded at five separate sets of sessions spread over the period from November 2004 to May 2008, and doubtless this helped the ABO achieve the strong technical standards they demonstrate here. It must also have been a good way of preventing any feeling of a production line from creeping in, but at the same time may be to blame for the occasional inconsistency; Concertos Nos 1, 4 and 6 lack a little of the sonic immediacy (and thus vibrancy) of the others, for instance, while Nos 9 and 11 suffer from an over-present harpsichord not evident elsewhere in the set. These are small prices to pay, however, for such immensely enjoyable and inspiriting performances.