Our June Recording of the Month is a deeply considered interpretation of a late Handel masterpiece that gets everything right. Theodora was not a hit in 1750, but in recent years the oratorio has become a favourite for operatic stagings, and although it hasn’t always fared perfectly on disc, Jonathan Cohen’s new recording on Alpha Classics is both beautifully paced and strongly cast.

Clive Paget caught up with the London-based conductor and founder of early-music specialists Arcangelo to find out what draws him to the work and what to expect if you’ve never heard it before.

You’ve performed a lot of Handel with Arcangelo. What draws you to his music?

I find Handel has a love of humanity, and in a very generous way, especially in the way he treats his characters. He’s constantly concerned with painting, like painting text. I did Israel in Egypt recently, and those plague scenes; he seems to take enormous pleasure in depicting things in the music in clever and beautiful ways.

Jonathan Cohen

Jonathan Cohen. Photo © Marco Borggreve

One of the extraordinary things about Theodora is how popular it is today compared with its run in...