Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

This is another mid-price release to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the BIS label. On it we have two short recitals, both by Handel and both featuring top class female soloists. The first is the world première recording of "Gloria", a piece that was rediscovered only in March 2001 in the library of the Royal Academy Of Music. Emma Kirkby gets the joy of the first recording and she does it full justice; her voice is perfect for Handel and she delivers an absolute master class in the art of singing. Laurence Cummings and the Royal Academy Of Music Baroque Orchestra accompany her without a note being out of place. Excellent. The second Handel offering is a re-release from 1986. This is "Dixit Dominus" ("The Lord Said"), a setting of Psalm 110. The two vocalists are the soprano Hillevi Martinpelto and the alto Anne Sofie von Otter. Both sing well but neither scale the heights of Miss Kirby. The accompaniment comes from the Stockholm Bach Choir and the Drottningholm Baroque Ensemble, both conducted by Anders Öhrwall. In any other context this would sound splendid but after the "Gloria" it is almost an anticlimax. Still well worth hearing though.

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