Kate Lindsey, Arcangelo & Jonathan Cohen - Tiranno - Presto Classical

The eponymous tyrant here is Nero (whom Lindsey’s portrayed onstage in several incarnations), and the American mezzo captures every facet of the emperor’s frighteningly mercurial personality, particularly in the world premiere recording of Scarlatti’s astonishing La Morte di Nerone in which the ghosts of his victims materialise before him. She’s scarcely less compelling as the ill-fated women in his life (Agrippina and Poppea) - but the stand-out is the flagrantly erotic duet with Lucano from Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea, her breathless exchanges with Andrew Staples barely Safe For Work.