‘Has there ever been a composer of more consistent elegance?’ If Steven Isserlis’s rhetorical question invites the listener to think of plausible alternatives, on the evidence of this wonderful album—an imaginative selection of Boccherini’s cello concertos and cello-centric chamber music—they are most unlikely to succeed. This is truly ‘music of the angels’, with performances to match.

The 350th anniversary of Alessandro Scarlatti’s birth fell in 2010 but did not receive the fuss that one of the most fascinating Italian Baroque composers deserves. His operas are particularly neglected but Daniela Barcellona and Concerto de’ Cavalieri go some way towards remedying this situation. Director Marcello Di Lisa has chosen a fascinating programme of sinfonias and arias from Scarlatti’s six last extant serious operas (1716-21), written for the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples (Tigrane, Carlo re d’Allemagna and Cambise) and for Rome’s Teatro Capranica (Telemaco, Marco Attilio Regolo and Griselda). Most are unpublished and have been edited from manuscript sources; 20 pieces receive world premiere recordings.