Album: Handel, English Cantatas – Brook Street Band (AVIE)

Handel composed hundreds of Italian cantatas, but the three recorded here represent a meagre contribution to the English counterpart, and even then their authenticity is in doubt.

The music is certainly his – the arias are arranged from 'Julius Caesar', 'Ottone' and 'Flavio' – but there's no evidence that Handel had any hand in them. Still, the lavish acoustic flatters the rich tones of the Brook Street instrumentalists, but vocalists Nicki Kennedy and Sally Bruce-Payne come over as swoony.

Pick of the Album: Sally Bruce-Payne in 'My Fair from Hence Is Gone'