"With only a few arias, Philip Cutlip as Ariodate, used his time wisely, with nearly show-stopping vocal prowess."

Recorded during the semi-staged performances in Berkeley, Atalanta emerges as an unjustly neglected work of great charm, vigor and emotional warmth. The pastoral tale of lovers misapprehending one another and then uniting, may be less than dramatically compelling. But Handel, who composed the 1736 work as an entertainment for the Prince of Wales, breathes life into one choice aria, duet and chorus after another. In the two soprano parts, Dominique Labelle lavishes her sweetly ringing tone and...