This calls for double celebration. Firstly for the vividly communicative performances and secondly because this is announced as the first of a series of Handel’s Italian cantatas that will eventually bring us all those that feature instrumental accompaniment, a total of some 30 works.

The opening instalment brings us four cantatas, of which Tra le fiamme and Delirio amoroso are familiar favourites, while Pensieri notturni di Filli and Figlio d’alte speranze are much less well known. The former is a tiny, intimate work scored with an accompaniment for recorder and continuo, but Figlio, which has a near-impenetrable text, is a fine work that maintains a restless, agitiated mood throughout.

Both these works belie the title of the CD by having no identifiable connection with Handel’s Roman patron, Cardinal Pamphili, the author of the texts of both the other cantatas. Soprano Roberta Invernizzi’s performances are nothing less than a tour de force, capturing ideally the playful irony of Tra le fiamma and the ever-changing and conflicting emotions of Delirio.

Her acute insight and projection of the texts means that for once the recitatives are not just treated as links between arias, but as a meaningful and vital part of the whole. The arias bring a combination of astonishing coloratura and sublimely shaped cantabiles, all coalescing in singing whose sole flaw is the occasional explosive forte on high notes.

There is splendidly positive support by La Risonanza. A gem of a disc that demands urgently to be added to every Handel collection.  BRIAN ROBINS