Cleopatra
Baroque arias
Regula Mühlemann s, La Folia Barokorchester/Müller
Sony 88985407012

Swiss soprano Regula Mühlemann has been building a fine reputation of late from Gluck to early bel canto. This concept album, exploring composers’ fascination for an array of romantically charged Egyptian Queens by the name of Cleopatra, takes her back to the Baroque and proves equally fertile territory for her silvery vocal charms.

Refreshingly, Mühlemann only chooses one of the obvious Handel arias, Se pietà di me non senti, in which Cleopatra begs the gods to spare her lover’s life. In this case, the lover is Julius...