With the prolific Alessandro Scarlatti one is spoilt for choice when selecting arias - this is a superb selection from his output of over 100 operas, over 600 cantatas, around 30 oratorios plus many serenatas. They are interpreted by Elizabeth Watts, a very technically capable soprano who skilfully and emotionally grasps these works, which include the aria "Torbido, irato e nero" from Scarlatti's final serenata "Erminia", written specifically for the as-yet-unknown young Farinelli to showcase his phenomenal talent, "Se geloso è il mio core" from the serenata "Endimione e Cintia" pitting virtuoso trumpet against the singer's agility, and "Cara tomba del mio diletto" from the 1706 opera "Mitridate Eupatore" in which Mitridate's sister wails a lament believing (incorrectly) him to be dead - curiously this opera was a flop with the public, a satirist mercilessly panning it as a soporific, but as the booklet notes drily remark, "Surely Venetian audiences couldn't have slept through all this".
Perhaps the only criticism I might lay against Ms Watts is that she is perhaps a tinge 'arid' at the lower end of her (considerable) range, but it's minor. Lawrence Cummings directs Watts and the instrumentalists of The English Consort with great sensitivity to the needs of the works. It's a very welcome addition to the rather meagre discography of such a fine, influential and prolific composer and it's about time we had more. The booklet has four pages of notes on the pieces plus libretti and translations.