Sonya Yoncheva’s increasingly starry trajectory has her heading towards more fulsome-voiced heroines but Handel is not unknown territory for the Bulgarian soprano, who started off in the baroque hothouse Les Arts Florissants. Her expansive, red-blooded approach to these arias and duets – 10 by Handel, one by Purcell – won’t suit all tastes, but her singing is genuinely distinctive, thoughtful and never less than convincing. The selection leans towards weighty laments – Agrippina’s Pensieri is a highlight – but in lighter numbers, including Alcina’s Tornami a vagheggiar, she sounds as fresh and agile as one could want. The Academia Montis Regalis offer vigour if not always the last word in poise or refinement; Lascia ch’io pianga could be the soundtrack to a state procession. Karine Deshayes’s fruity mezzo-soprano is well matched with Yoncheva in duets from Rodelinda and Theodora. The latter, like Dido’s Lament, is in English – but best to listen without thinking too hard about that.
