Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Soprano Grace Davidson won the Early Music Prize while studying singing at London's Royal Academy of Music and has since built a commendable discography, including a decade with The Sixteen. This release with the Academy of Ancient Music on the Signum Classics label is her debut as an orchestral soloist with a most enjoyable performance of works by Handel and Vivaldi, with the AAM being led by violinist Bojan Čičić under artistic director Joseph Crouch. While the album title places Vivaldi first he is outnumbered three to one by Handel. We open with "Silente Venti" ("Be Silent, You Winds") (HWV 242) followed by Handel's "Gloria", long considered lost and still with the HWV classification of 'deest' ('does not exist'). Well it does exist and was rediscovered in 2001 having spent many years unnoticed in the library of the Royal Academy of Music; Ms Davidson gives it a suitably joyous performance. The final contribution from George Frideric is his "Salve Regina" (HWV 241), first performed in Italy and thus a nice link to the conclusion from Antonio Vivaldi with his "Nulla In Mundo Pax Sincera" ("In This World There Is No Honest Peace") (RV630). The four pieces sit most comfortably together, the musicians of the AAM are as competent as we have come to expect but the star is undoubtedly Grace Davidson whose voice seems to have been especially created to sing baroque music and I sincerely hope this is not the last time she shines her light on Handel or Vivaldi. Given how prolific both were there should be plenty more opportunities to hear Ms Davidson in all her glory.

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