Siroe has been relatively little recorded among Handel’s operas; versions by Rudolph Palmer (Newport Classics, 5/92 – nla) and Andreas Spering (Harmonia Mundi, 6/94 – nla) got cautious welcomes in these pages, in which one can sense that the positives were that there was a recording at all. This new one ought to cap those, partly because of 20 intervening years of fast-developing Handel experience and partly because it displays the heightened drama that results from a full production, which has here been recorded live at the 2013 Göttingen International Handel Festival. Mind you, some listeners may feel that the negative impacts of thunderous stage noises and occasional off mic singing on a CD outweigh the gains, as might the times when the performers fail to produce the kind of ensemble precision at pick-ups that are possible in a studio recording.

What seems clearer, however, is that this opera is not one of Handel’s best. Composed in 1728 and setting a much-shortened Metastasio text, it depicts seventh-century Persian dynastic manoeuvrings executed by an unappealing bunch of schemers, of whom only the much put-upon Siroe emerges with credit. Indeed, it is only when Handel’s extraordinary capacity to empathise even with unlikeable characters emerges that his genius really asserts itself: King Cosroe’s mistress Laodice, in love with Siroe but lamenting his unattainability in a poignant siciliana; the stabbing, accusatory counterpoint as Cosroe regrets ordering his son’s death; and Siroe himself, languishing in prison in a darkly expressive B flat minor aria. Naturally there is wonderful music aplenty elsewhere (including a lovely aria for Emira at the end of Act 2), but not so tightly linked to the dramatic context.

With Laurence Cummings at the helm, and the hand-picked FestspielOrchester Göttingen in stirring form, the performance is energetic and committed. Cummings has an ability to push the momentum through from recitative to aria and back again with naturalness and urgency, so that all seems of a piece. Sopranos Anna Dennis and Aleksandra Zamojska are the most impressive cast members, the former smooth, clear and radiant, the latter firmer-voiced but still bright, and unleashing some athletic ornaments in her final aria. Antonio Giovannini and Lisandro Abadie are solid and credible in their roles, and the only disappointment is Yosemeh Adjei, who, though not without dramatic strengths, lacks the lyrical ease, intonational control and sheer vocal strength one would like to hear in a title-role written for Senesino. All of which means that while Handel opera collectors may well welcome this recording for being Siroe, for anyone else there are other Handel operas to choose ahead of it.