IBO & Peter Whelan - Rachel Baptist: Ireland’s Black Syren - Musik an sich

Rachel Redmond takes Baptist's place with a soprano voice that is beautifully reminiscent of the sound of the young Emma Kirkby: clear, vital, of great purity and as agile as a nightingale in the high register. If this is how Baptist presented her Handel, it is hardly surprising that tickets sold well. But that's not all: Redmond and conductor Peter Whelan also intersperse several numbers by Niccolo Pasquali (1718-1757) as delightful world premiere recordings; the Italian, who spent three years in Dublin, conceived a number of masques there, in which Rachel Baptist also performed. His music is similar to that of early Handel - catchy, melodic, motoric.

The Irish Baroque Orchestra performs beautifully and full-bodied. Thanks to its performance and Redmond's incisive delivery, this varied CD also has value beyond the unusual narrative.