Handel: Catone CD review – lively two-act pasticcio

Prina, Invernizzi, Hammarström, Novaro, Cirillo, Auser Musici/Ipata(Glossa) (2 CDs)A lost Handel opera? Not quite: during his London years, Handel quite often arranged the music of other composers and compiled them into pasticcio operas. In this case, arias from Leonardo Leo’s Catone are woven with Vivaldi, Porpora and Hasse numbers and short bursts of recitative to create a lively two-act drama. What this shows vividly is how baroque opera really worked: the choices are determin