Nicola Porpora was in London when he composed Polifemo, enlisted by the Opera of the Nobility in a bid to outshine Handel and satisfy the public appetite for Italian opera. A leading singing teacher as well, Porpora was well versed in shaping and writing for the star voices of the day, and this 1735 opera became a vehicle for two of the most dazzling castrati of the era, Farinelli and Senesino. It was a hit with the audience, but Handel still won the operatic war – both in his lifetime and with his legacy. Porpora is far from a household name today.

Still, his Polifemo is full of deep emotion and is a wonderful discovery, especially when performed with a modern-day starry cast headed up by Franco Fagioli and Julia Lezhneva. Fagioli has form with Porpora too, having released a cracking album of his arias a few years ago. Here he takes the role of the mortal Aci, with whom the goddess Galatea (Lezhneva) has fallen in love, rousing the jealousy of the eponymous cyclops (an authoritative José Coca Loza), with whom Calipso (a...