With his ravishing, hilarious and profound recording of Serse, conductor Harry Bicket once again puts all rivals in the shade...The suave assurance of Bicket and the English Concert is expressed in gracious tempos, translucent textures and poetic continuo realisations, which also send up the emotional incontinence of the characters on stage.

The performance is quite excellent. All of the voices are appropriate for their characters, and the orchestra is both discreet and spot on in terms of tempo and intonation.

d’Angelo has tremendous panache and a firm, arresting mezzo-soprano that records very well...Bicket conducts a performance as vividly alive as the opera must have seemed when it was new.

The superb cast is led by Emily D’Angelo, whose opening aria – beautifully controlled and rich in tone – will not disappoint...this new Serse is surely one of the most charismatic recordings now available.

[It] bowls along energetically, the orchestral playing especially rewarding…The versatile Canadian mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo sings the title role. Her ripe, vibrato-rich voice might not be to all tastes – sample Ann Murray or Anne Sofie von Otter for contrast – but she makes a powerful impact.

The opening overture is exciting enough, while the accompaniments make me long to join the violinists leaping with such spirit alongside the singers, driving the music forward. Emily D’Angelo’s mezzo is the first voice we hear, robust and vibrant...The singer who really excels, though, is Lucy Crowe, radiating steadfast purity of tone as Romilda...Mary Bevan is almost as good as Atalanta, Romilda’s flirty sister.