Album: Caldara in Vienna, Philippe Jaroussky (Virgin Classics)

Echoes of Venice are few in Jaroussky's recital of Antonio Caldara's castrato arias, though "Se un Core Annodi", from Achille in Sciro, has a welcome hint of carnival sass.

Vienna was a more conservative city and the rest of this programme divides into the plangent ("Se Mai Senti" from La Clemenza di Tito) and the agile ("O Mi Rendi" from Scipione), with Jaroussky's refined counter-tenor gracefully supported by Emmanuelle Haïm and the Concerto Köln. It's very beautiful but very cautious, and thus a teensy bit boring.