Described by one scholar as “the worst libretto Handel ever set, with scarcely a redeeming feature”, we know little of Lucio Cornelio Silla’s early origins in London in 1713. But wow, what music! One hit after another, with unusual concentration because it’s relatively short, with a short, lamenting duet and a wild aria for Metella (Sunhae Im) like a vocal Arrival of the Queen of Sheba. Fabio Biondi’s experienced cast – Sonia Prina, Vivica Genaux, Roberta Invernizzi – now has this idiom totally sorted, and with the glassy, dancing playing of Europa Galante the whole thing shoots along. Maybe it will never see the stage, but it suits the CD player.
