Philippe Jaroussky,Max Emanuel Cencic,Les Arts Florrissants, Duetti (Virgin Classics)
Philippe Jaroussky's last CD, Opium, was a set of French songs and came, it has to be said, as a bit of a disappointment. Bought on the strength of the wonderful A Chloris, the rest of the set didn't match up to it. It joined that unfortunate list of records, or poetry books, bought on the promise of one piece that wasn't reproduced among the others.There's no such risk with a collection of baroque arias and cantatas. These are all by composers roughly contemporary with Handel, Alessandro Scarlatti being the closest to a household name; Bononconi and Marcello being best represented.With duets, if not necessarily guaranteeing twice the value of solo performance, it is generally going to involve call and answer, interwoven lines and harmonies. While Andreas Scholl might look and sound slightly more academic at times, Jaroussky and Cencic here are warmer, with fine clarity of tone and perhaps greater sensuality. If nothing's ever going to surpass Bowman and Chance in the Couperin Lecons de Tenebres for me, this in places creates similar effects and Les Arts Florissant in the continuo, violin and cello parts make more than a background contribution.While there are nimble, grand and spirited passages to show a wide range of feelings throughout, it's always going to be in the arias of love and estrangement that the most exquisite moments are going to come. Forlorn and fretful are the things that counter tenors do best. The Bononcini Chi d'amortra la catene, much of the Marcello Chiaro e limpido fonte and the cantata Veggio fille are those,
Say, god of hearts,
if there be any pain equal to mine
There never is, is there, if you're a lovelorn shepherd. But it rarely fails and doesn't here. Christmas has come early for counter tenor afficiandos.