Cecilia Bartoli, Sol Gabetta - Dolce Duello

The Guardian 80

Bartoli/Gabetta/Cappella Gabetta/Gabetta
(Decca)

The larky photoshoot - all blue skies, parasols and Vivienne Westwood dresses – makes it look as if Cecilia Bartoli and Sol Gabetta had a high time making this disc. In fact, it’s just as serious and thoroughly researched as we’ve come to expect of Bartoli’s projects. She and Gabetta have sought out nearly an hour’s worth of baroque arias in which the solo cello is on an equal footing with the voice, including Handel’s achingly beautiful Ode for St Cecilia’s Day and some athletic numbers by Vivaldi and Albinoni, alongside three arias – by Caldara and Porpora – never before recorded. Gabetta then adds a sparky performance of Boccherini’s Cello Concerto; everything gets supple support from the ensemble led by her violinist brother. Gabetta’s light touch is the ideal foil for Bartoli’s expressive agility, whether the two of them are sparring in separate displays of virtuosity, weaving melancholy webs around each other, or hurtling along in parallel.